ESPN will televise the 2014 Gillette Home Run Derby tonight, July 14, at 8 p.m. ET from Target Field in Minneapolis. This will mark the 22nd consecutive year ESPN has aired the Home Run Derby, which is also available on ESPN Radio, ESPN DEPORTES and WatchESPN.
Jose Bautista (Toronto
Blue Jays) and Troy Tulowitzki (Colorado Rockies) will serve as Home Run Derby captains. Both players made their Derby team selections on the 6 p.m. edition of SportsCenter on Tuesday, July 8. Yoenis Cespedes (Oakland Athletics), Adam Jones (Baltimore Orioles) and Brian Dozier (Minnesota Twins) will represent the American League while Giancarlo Stanton (Miami Marlins), Yasiel Puig (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Todd Frazier (Cincinnati Reds) will represent the National League. The final competitor in each league will be announced on Thursday, July 10.
Major League Baseball will debut a new format for the Derby this year, which features a maximum of seven outs per round and bracketed play after the first round. The player who hits the most home runs in each league in the first round will automatically receive a bye to the third round (Semi-Finals). The next two players from each league with the most home runs will square off against one another in a head-to-head matchup in the second round. The winners of these matchups will advance to the third round to face-off against their league's top seed. The final round will feature the winners of the A.L. and N.L. Semi-Finals matchups going head-to-head for the 2014 crown.
Gillette Home Run Derby Commentators
ESPN's Chris Berman will host the Gillette Home Run Derby telecast with
Sunday Night Baseball analyst and three-time All-Star John Kruk.
ESPN MLB Insiders Buster Olney and Pedro Gomez will provide reports and interviews with MLB All-Stars and Derby participants.
ESPN Production Highlights
· Recording artist Aloe Blacc will open the show performing "Can You Do This," followed by a production tease set to a cover of Blacc's "Come Fly With Me" showcasing how the Home Run Derby evokes the childlike wonder of the long ball;
· The new ability to display multiple home run icons on the screen at the same time will provide a visual recap of all home runs hit in previous at-bat(s) by a single competitor or hit by all competitors in a round;
· New technology will display a slugger's "wheelhouse" after at-bats by superimposing images of every home run swing at the point of contact;
· On-screen graphics will almost immediately mark the exact landing distance of a home run baseball from home plate with a display of the projected distance the ball would have traveled had it not been impeded;
· The telecast will also integrate
ESPN Ball Track Technology with a virtual spray chart of home runs after participants have finished their at-bats.
Baseball Tonight & SportsCenter
A special one-hour Baseball Tonight from the ballpark will begin at 7 p.m. leading into the Derby. Host Karl Ravech will be joined by analyst, Hall of Famer and 12-time All-Star Barry Larkin, analyst Aaron Boone and
ESPN MLB Insiders Buster Olney and Tim Kurkjian. The crew will reconvene for a post-Derby Baseball Tonight telecast at 1 a.m. on Monday and again following the 2014
MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 15, at 1 a.m. SportsCenter will also be on site at Target Field with live segments beginning at 1 p.m. on Monday and continuing through the conclusion of the All-Star Game.
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio will serve as the exclusive radio broadcast home of the Gillette Home Run Derby.
ESPN Radio's
Sunday Night Baseball team of Jon Sciambi and analyst Chris Singleton will describe the action with reporters Peter Pascarelli and Marc Kestecher.
ESPN Radio will also broadcast the All-Star Game on July 15, with coverage beginning at 7 p.m.
Mike & Mike
Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic from
ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike will provide the Gillette Home Run Derby call over the Target Field public address system for those at the stadium. The Mike & Mike show will be on site at Kieran's in Minneapolis both Monday, July 14, and Tuesday, July 15 from 6-10 a.m. (5-9 a.m. CT).
ESPN Deportes
ESPN Deportes will televise the Gillette Home Run Derby at 8 p.m. with commentary from Ernesto Jerez, Luis Alfredo Alvarez, three-time All-Star Ozzie Guillen and Guillermo Celis. Additionally, Beisbol Esta Noche will preview the Derby with Claudia Trejos and Candy Maldonado at 7:30 p.m.
ESPN DEPORTES Radio will have special coverage around the Derby and will also broadcast the All-Star Game on Tuesday.
ESPN International
ESPN International will televise the Gillette Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game in South America, Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, Oceania and on cruise ships.
ESPN.com
· Live, digital episode of Baseball Tonight on Monday, July 14, at 4 p.m. with
ESPN MLB Insiders Olney, Kurkjian and Jayson Stark;
· Analysis, highlights and previews in Baseball Tonight spotlights and the Baseball Tonight Minute throughout All-Star Week;
· Gillette Home Run Derby predictions from ESPN's deep roster of MLB analysts;
· Gillette Home Run Derby Tracker page, the premier online destination for MLB All-Star Week coverage includes a real-time leaderboard with Derby participant statistics and home run measurements, an overlay graphic of Target Field with mapping of each participant's 2014 home runs, interactive player cards with home run metrics, a live stream of the Home Run Derby on WatchESPN and
ESPN Radio, bonus video from Target Field, and an interactive chat with social media integration using #HRDerby.
ESPN will televise the 2014 Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game immediately following the conclusion of the Derby. Additional
ESPN MLB All-Star coverage details will be announced this week.
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