The best and worst performances by a Brewers player in the MLB Home Run Derby

One of Major League Baseball's most exciting nights is set to start in just about two hours, as the leagues' best sluggers will compete to see who can send more balls over the fences of Truist Park in Atlanta. The Home Run Derby is set to start at 7:00 p.m. CT tonight and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

Though the Milwaukee Brewers don't have any players competing in tonight's contest, from 1996 to 2018, a representative from the Crew competed in 12 of the 23 Home Run Derbies that took place. In that span, Prince Fielder participated in three derbies, and Richie Sexson was a part of two. The Brewers’ most recent Home Run Derby participant was Jesús Aguilar in 2018, though Christian Yelich was supposed to compete in the 2019 derby before having to back out due to a flare-up in his back.

Through the years, the Brewers have had some very impressive performances at the Home Run Derby, and some others that would not require one to write home about them. Ahead of tonight's slugfest, let's take a look back at the best and worst performances from a Brewer in the Home Run Derby.

Best performance: Prince Fielder 2009

Swinging for the fences at the home ballpark of the Brewers' division rival, the St. Louis Cardinals, Prince Fielder became the first Brewer to ever win the Home Run Derby with his consistent display of power. In a derby that included legends such as Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, Joe Mauer, and Nelson Cruz, Fielder was the one to raise the silver bats over his head at the end of the night.

It required just six home runs for Fielder to take down Cruz in the finals, but along the way there were some notable highlights including a towering home run off the bat of the Brewers' first baseman that traveled an estimated 503 feet.

The 2009 show that Fielder put on at Busch Stadium was the second derby that the former Brewers slugger participated in. When he stepped into the box in his first derby, back in 2007, he and his father Cecil became the first father-son duo to compete in the Home Run Derby. Cecil made three appearances in the Home Run Derby in the 1990s, but never took home the crown.

Meanwhile, Prince not only surpassed his father by winning the 2009 Home Run Derby in St. Louis, he went on to win another derby in 2012 as a member of the Detroit Tigers. To this day, Fielder remains the only Brewer to ever win the Home Run Derby, making his display in 2009 an easy choice as the best derby performance in Brewers history.

Worst performance: Greg Vaughn 1996

Those who choose to participate in the Home Run Derby must have nightmares about stepping into the box on derby night and failing to hit a single home run. That nightmare became a reality for Brewers outfielder Greg Vaughn during the 1996 Home Run Derby.

Vaughn's name has resurfaced among Brewers fans in recent days as the performance of recent trade acquisition Andrew Vaughn has sparked calls for a return of the Vaughn's Valley banner that used to hang in the left-field bleachers of County Stadium during Greg's time with the Crew.

During Vaughn's seven and a half seasons with the Brewers from 1989 to 1996, he averaged more than 20 HR a season, but on a fateful July night at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia back in 1996, Vaughn didn't manage to put a single ball over the fence. To be fair to Vaughn, it was much more common for players to put up a zero in the derby when the old "outs" system was used. In fact, in 1996, Gary Sheffield also didn't hit a single homer, giving Vaughn some company on the bottom of the leaderboard.

Even with his disappointing performance, Vaughn made history as the first Brewer to ever participate in the Home Run Derby.