It’s fair to say the Pirates don’t have much of a modern reputation for developing fearsome power hitters, but the club has put five players in the various iterations of the Home Run Derby since it debuted in 1985. Before Josh Bell joins them in the club Monday night, here’s a look at how his predecessors have fared. Spoiler alert: It’s mostly disappointing.
Bobby Bonilla, 1990 — The good news is that he tied for fourth in the eight-player field. The bad news is that he did it with zero homers. He wasn’t alone. Four other players failed to hit even one out of Chicago’s Wrigley Field that year, and the leaders struggled, too. Hometown hero Ryne Sandberg of the Cubs won with just three blasts. Oakland’s Mark McGwire and San Francisco’s Matt Williams tied for second with one apiece. Collectively, they stunk up the show so badly that MLB changed the format the following season. Fortunately for the Pirates, Bonilla’s swings in games were much better. His total of 32 homers that year was the second-best of his 16-year career.
Barry Bonds, 1992 — The derby debut of baseball’s all-time home run leader was less than scintillating. He outperformed Bonilla, but barely. His two taters at San Diego’s Jack Murphy Stadium put him alone in last place in the eight-player field. Mark McGwire, still with the Athletics, won the event with 12 blasts. Seattle’s Ken Griffey Jr. was second with seven, while no one else had more than four. Bonds finished the season with 34 homers before bolting for the Giants after the Pirates’ infamous loss to Atlanta in Game 7 of the 1992 National League championship series.
Jason Bay, 2005 — It was more than a decade before fans got to see another Pirate in the derby and it was ... not worth the wait. Bay, the NL’s rookie of the year in 2004, became the second player in club history to put up a goose egg when he failed to hit a ball out of Detroit’s Comerica Park. Needless to say, he failed to advance out of the first round.
The stadium is notoriously tough on hitters, but the other competitors didn’t struggle nearly as much. Winner Bobby Abreu, of Philadelphia, smacked 41, including 24 in the first round. Three other players hit 15 and all but Texas’ Mark Teixeira hit at least five. Bay did still have a nice season overall with 32 homers.
Andrew McCutchen, 2012 — He didn’t make it out of the first round, but he was the first Pirate to finish higher than last overall. Hey, it’s progress.
His four homers at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium left him three short of what he needed to advance in a rather pedestrian night for long balls overall. Detroit’s Prince Fielder won the event with 28 total. He was the only guy to get north of 20. McCutchen’s 31 homers in 2012 were a career high.
Pedro Alvarez, 2013 — The Pirates’ best performance in a Derby almost didn’t happen. Alvarez, who was raised in New York, was originally left out of the field for the event at the Mets’ Citi Field. Then Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez sprained his finger and a slot opened up. In stepped Alvarez, and he was respectable.
His six homers left him two short of advancing to the second round. Oakland’s Yoenis Céspedes went on to win the event with 32 homers, beating out Washington’s Bryce Harper. Alvarez won in the long run, though. His 36 homers were enough to take the NL’s regular-season crown.
Adam Bittner: abittner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @fugimaster24.
First Published: July 8, 2019, 11:00 a.m.