He’s in: Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger officially joins Home Run Derby field
Cody Bellinger started April in the minor leagues. If his season went well, he said, he hoped he could play in the triple-A All-Star Game.
His season has gone a bit better than he had hoped. The Dodgers called him up in April, and he took the National League by storm. He spotted the league three weeks and still leads the NL with 24 home runs.
On Sunday, he learned that his fellow players had voted him into the All-Star Game — the major league one, not the triple-A one. On Monday, he officially accepted an invitation to the home run derby that precedes the All-Star game.
He said last week he had received an invitation but said he wanted his father to pitch to him and would not accept until he was sure his father could get time off from work. Clay Bellinger, his father, is a former major league infielder and current firefighter in Gilbert, Ariz., a suburb of Phoenix.
Bellinger’s participation means the Dodgers will have a derby representative for the fourth consecutive year, following Yasiel Puig in 2014, Joc Pederson in 2015 and Corey Seager in 2016.
The rest of the field: Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez of the New York Yankees, Giancarlo Stanton and Justin Bour of the Miami Marlins, Charlie Blackmon of the Colorado Rockies, Mike Moustakas of the Kansas City Royals and Miguel Sano of the Minnesota Twins.
The derby takes place July 10 in Miami.
Follow Bill Shaikin on Twitter @BillShaikin
Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
