Milwaukee Brewers: Christian Yelich Should Be Fine In The HR Derby, Right?

Christian Yelich is the top seed in the Home Run Derby during the All Star break this season. Should fans be worried about the Milwaukee Brewers slugger?

It’s been a concern as old as the Home Run Derby itself: “Won’t Player X ruin his swing by being in the Derby?”. After all, numerous Derby hitters have gone on to have poor second halves, so there is a Derby curse. Milwaukee Brewers fans are no different with their concerns for Christian Yelich.

For obvious reasons, fans don’t want Yelich’s swing messed up considering he’s the frontrunner for NL MVP for the second year in a row and has single-handedly carried the offense for almost a full calendar year now. So a messed up swing from Yelich would be a terrible blow to this team.

But will the Derby actually mess him up. At least according to Christian Yelich, it won’t.

Yelich just absolutely dunked on everybody concerned about his swing, saying that basically anyone concerned about the Derby ruining his swing is uneducated in the matter. Boom, roasted.

So Yelich is not concerned at all, and seems more motivated than ever.

Yelich Motivated By Doubt

Doubt is something that clearly has pushed Christian Yelich to another level. People doubted he could take the next step as a hitter and end up winning the MVP award. Then people doubted he could repeat that success and continue hitting home runs and playing at the level he was in 2018. That’s fueled him to 31 home runs this season prior to the All Star Break, just five shy of last year’s season total.

All of the doubt against Yelich has put a chip on his shoulder and with everyone doubting him for the Home Run Derby, wanting him to either not do it to save his swing or get eliminated early, that’s just going to fuel him to dominate and win the Derby.

Not only that, with everyone telling him his swing will get messed up and expecting a drop off in production in the second half, that’s just going to fuel him to have an even more successful second half and prove everybody wrong.

Yelich’s Swing

If anything, Yelich’s picture perfect swing is best suited for the Derby and avoiding the Derby slump that could follow, because he doesn’t have to change anything. While I haven’t gotten a chance to watch his batting practice in person, given his ability to hit them out in games, I’m sure his BP rounds are very entertaining to watch.

The players who have to change their swing to succeed in the Derby are the ones prone to slumps following, but Yelich does not. He doesn’t get into the Launch Angle Revolution and that should keep his swing safe following the Derby.

The swing he has now has gotten him 31 home runs this season, and 36 last season, and he knows he doesn’t have to change it.

Yelich will face off against hotshot rookie Vladimir Guerrero, Jr in the first round on Monday night. Keep on doubting Yelich if you must, it’s only going to push him to be more successful. He will be just fine.

The Milwaukee Brewers have only had one Derby winner in their history, which was Prince Fielder, unsurprisingly. The Derby never seemed to hurt his swing.