MLBPA head: Pitchers' Derby will be considered for 2017
Those slugging pitchers might get their wish next season.
Major League Baseball and the Players' Association are going to discuss incorporating pitchers into the Home Run Derby for as soon as next season, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark told Jayson Stark of ESPN on Monday. The union leader said he and the league will "revisit that and a number of other ideas" before the 2017 game is played in Miami.
Clark said that his union was and is open to including pitchers in the Derby, an idea that first gained steam after Madison Bumgarner first expressed interest in entering the contest - and was soon joined by a host of other eager pitchers - but myriad reasons made it impossible to include hurlers in the 2016 installment.
"We were willing to have that conversation (with the league), which is what we had," Clark said. "But again, as you get closer to the event itself, it becomes remarkably difficult to make tweaks and adjustments to protocol."
Clark also revealed that there was some level of resistance within the union, specifically among hitters. The idea of inviting a pitcher into the Derby at the expense of an experienced hitter was one that rankled a few position players. Chicago White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier, a former Derby champion, was one of those, bluntly telling Stark that "I don't think it would be a good idea."
That backroom resistance seems to be a major reason the idea was shelved for 2016, but is very much on the table going forward.
"In other words, if you don't make that (decision to include pitchers) in the forefront, it's going to be difficult to make that consideration later," Clark said. "So that's why we can have those conversations about 2017, so that when players are considered, perhaps we're looking at a broader group. And not just the hitters."
Related: 5 pitchers we want to see in a HR derby
For some of the pitchers who wanted to swing in San Diego, there was disappointment - mostly because their months-old dream very nearly became a sudden reality.
"We were almost there, man," Chicago Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta, who owns the longest homer by a pitcher this year, said. "I think it would have been something fun for the fans to see. And if it stunk, maybe we don't do it again."