From left, Adrian Gonzalez, Mya Perez and Grady Emerson, representing the Dodgers, were the winners of the MLB Home Run Derby X at The Ballpark at America First Square in South Jordan on Sept. 20.
Members of the Yankees team at Home Run Derby X were, from left, Nick Swisher, Todd Frazier and Jocelyn Alo, who took home second place. (Photos by Tom Haraldsen, Salt Lake Business Journal)
Tom Haraldsen
Salt Lake Business Journal
It was deja vu all over again — sort of. Just like in last year’s MLB World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees during the championship of the MLB Home Run Derby X on Sept. 20. The Dodgers won 72-71 in the finals held at The Ballpark at America First Square in South Jordan.
The annual competition held its finals in Utah for the first time, and the groups of former major leaguers, professional women’s softball players and collegiate stars who came to the state were all impressed with the stadium, the fans who attended and the surroundings of the development in Downtown Daybreak. It was a large reason why the Bees’ ownership bid to get the finals in Utah.
“We’re really excited for Home Run Derby X. It’s a chance to exhibit incredible athletes, not only with MLB but also with professional women in softball and collegiate level softball players and legacy players,” said Michelle Smith, executive vice president of Miller Sports & Entertainment.
“To bring them into this ballpark, that’s brand-new, and in Salt Lake City and in Utah just seems so fitting, especially this time of year — it couldn’t be better baseball weather. And so we’re really excited to be given this opportunity to host the finals.”
The premise is simple: Teams of three players take their swings to see how many home runs they can hit in 2½ minutes — in this case, over the right field wall at the ballpark. Their opponents play in the outfield and can score points by catching flies that don’t clear the fence. Over the first two rounds of the event, where eight teams begin, four advance to the semifinals and two make the finals. Hundreds of baseballs were knocked to eager fans sitting on the grass berms beyond the right field wall.
Four teams made Saturday’s semifinals: the Yankees, Dodgers, Nationals and Salt Lake Bees. These four squads adopted team names for the competition, even if they weren’t actually ever members of those MLB teams. But some were.
“Everything about this place has been wonderful,” said veteran MLB star Nick Swisher, who played on the Yankees team for HRDX. “This facility is great — probably the nicest minor league park I’ve ever played in. And the fans have been great.”
Swisher, who played for 13 seasons in MLB, including four years with the New York Yankees, four with the Oakland A’s, won a World Series title in 2009 with the Yankees and was MVP in the 2010 All-Star Game, was personal and engaging, as he and teammates Todd Frazier (two-time All-Star; 11 seasons in the majors, including five with the Cincinnati Reds; and a Little League World Series champ in 1998); and collegiate softball champion Jocelyn Alo from the University of Oklahoma (numerous conference and All-American honors) powered their way into the finals against the team representing the Dodgers.
Those Dodger players included MLB superstar Adrian Gonzalez, a five-time All Star who played for the Dodgers, Padres, Red Sox, Rangers and Mets; Mya Perez, a junior softball player from Texas A&M who broke the school’s single-season record with 73 RBIs and batted .424 this past season while earning all-conference honors; and Grady Emerson, a high school star from Argyle, Texas, who was the youngest player this year and is considered a No. 1 pick for the MLB draft — though he’s committed to play at the University of Texas next year.
The Dodgers defeated the Bees 62-53 in one semi and the Yanks beat the Nationals 71-69 in the other, setting the stage for the finals, where the Dodgers edged the Yanks on a home run by Frasier. The winning team split a
$150,000 prize.
“I’ve had a couple pull me aside to tell me we have an incredible ballpark and offer congratulations,” Smith said. “We had a goal of creating a gathering place for baseball that felt like the major leagues but was in minor league baseball. We continue to get that feedback even as these professional players are coming in.”
She said the Bees’ first season in the new park, which ended in September, was a hit.
“We are thrilled by the experiences and success of our first season here — on and off the field. Our inaugural season exceeded expectations for those that came to the ballpark. I think next season is even going to be more exciting because there will be continued development around the ballpark. So when people come next year, the experience is going to continue to develop. Excited to have people continue engaging with America First Square and with the ballpark. The feedback from every team from our post-game survey gave us such high marks. So we really accomplished everything we set out to do.”
She added that the organization’s goal when building the park was to make it a space that could be used throughout the year.
“As we go into the holidays, this is going to be transformed into this incredible light experience that you can walk through with your family,” she said. “It will have Christmas trees, music, ice skating in the plaza. We hope that people won’t just think of the ballpark during the summer. It will be a place where you’ll want to gather all year long.”