Home Run Derby: A’s Olson edged in opening round at Coors Field

Matt Olson put on an impressive power display to help get the MLB Home Run Derby off to a booming start Monday night, but the A’s first baseman ran out of time and fell one homer shy of advancing out of the first round at Coors Field.

Olson just missed hitting a tying home run on his final swing — admiring a high, towering shot as it hooked outside the right field foul pole as time expired — and the Orioles’ Trey Mancini advanced with a 24-23 victory in their first-round matchup.

Olson was the No. 3 seed in the Derby and Mancini, a survivor of stage 3 colon cancer who had surgery to remove a malignant tumor in March 2020, was the No. 6 seed.

The pair combined to hit nearly 50 home runs in just under 10 minutes, and that was just the start to the event, part of All-Star week in Denver.

The Rangers’ Joey Gallo, the No.  2 seed, also ran out of time and the Rockies’ Trevor Story held on for a 20-19 victory. Defending champion Pete Alonso of the Mets, the No. 4 seed and defending champ, hit 35 in his opening-round win over the Royals’ Salvador Perez, who hit 27. The most anticipated matchup of the first round is Angles two-way star Shohei Ohtani, the No. 1 seed, facing Washington Nationals star Juan Soto. (check back for updates)

A’s assistant hitting coach Eric Martins threw to Olson, who headed to Coors Field on a power surge. Olson is fourth in the American League with 23 home runs and hit two in the A’s final game before the break, ending a 14-game homeless streak.

The format for the Derby has changed over the years. Initially paced by “innings”, from 1991-2013 players could keep swinging until they made 10 outs — balls that didn’t clear the fence. Since 2015 it’s been a bracket format and with time limits. Players get three minutes in the first and second rounds, and two minutes in the final round. A home run of at least 475 feet extends the hitter’s time by 30 seconds.

Mancini struggled initially, hitting two homers in about 60 seconds before taking a timeout. Then he blasted 17 more in the next two minutes and another five in his extra minute.

Olson, who, along with all the other competitors wore No. 44 in honor of the late Hank Aaron, followed Mancini’s impressive round with a barrage of high, arching blasts, including one that sent a fan tumbling over a railing trying to catch. (The fan was OK and later did an interview to describe the experience).  Two of Olson’s homers were measured at 495 feet.

Olson reached the third deck at Coors three times, but also curled several balls foul and hit another off the outfield wall. He needed two more homers to tie Mancini with 15 seconds remaining and got the first, but missed the potential tying shot by only a few feet.

The competition figured to be a wild one. The influence of the thin air and altitude at Coors Field (5,000 feet above sea level) on hitting is well-documented, but others factors figured to promote more and longer home runs. It was nearly 90 degrees when Olson and the Orioles’ Trey Mancini took the first swings of the event around 6:15 p.m. local time, and the balls they used had not been deadened by sitting in a humidor like the ones used at Coors Field for regular-season games as well as Tuesday night’s All-Star Game.

Olson will make his first All-Star Game appearance on Tuesday. This was his first Derby appearance, and more figure to be in his future. The 27-year-old Olson has hit 123 home runs in 505 games since he made his debut in 2016. Only Mark McGwire (128) hit more in his first 500 games in the majors in franchise history.

Olson is the ninth different A’s player to participate in the Derby, joining Jose Canseco (1986, 1990); 1992 winner Mark McGwire (also 1987, 1990, 1996-97); Ruben Sierra (1994); John Jaha (1999); Jason Giambi (2001), two-time winner Yoenis Céspedes (2013- 14); Josh Donaldson (2014) and Matt Chapman, who represented the A’s in the most recent Derby in 2019.

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