Mariner Alumni Home Run Derby Results

[AT Fresno]

As usual a lot of anguish being a Mariner fan approaching the playoffs, but there is also a lot of love in this crazy organization and growing tradition. The M's do this stuff as good as anyone. Congrats to Stefen Romero for a great victory and special congrats to RRS (hyphen) who actually hit two home runs.
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Stefen Romero: 7 total home runs for 9 points (including the night’s longest at 416.9 feet).
Austin Nola: 6 total home runs for 9 points.
Ichiro Suzuki: 7 total home runs for 8 points (just short; one near-miss on a key swing).
Bucky Jacobsen: 4 points.
Ryon Healy: 4 points.
Ryan Rowland-Smith: 3 points (2 home runs).
Mike Cameron: 2 points.



Ken Griffey Jr. served as commissioner, with Jay Buhner and Nelson Cruz as team captains. Julio Rodríguez (as “DJ Pleno”) provided the music. The event was part of the Mariners’ 50 Seasons Celebration Weekend and drew a large crowd that stayed after the game, with Ichiro as the main attraction.


Romero (who has lived in the Portland area and coached youth baseball) called the win a fun opportunity and noted the physical demand of the event. Ichiro had practiced with him and expected him to contend strongly.

[Sibelius Hindemith]

Why didn't Griffey and Buhner do the HR derby? Too old?

Figures some guy who had like 8 plate appearances with the major league team would win the derby. I'll bet less than 5% of the fans in attendance even knew who the eff he was.

[Sibelius Hindemith]

BTW thanks for providing all that info Terry. I was listening to it on the radio but fell asleep before it ended. Did they do anything else besides the HR derby?

[DavidGee24]

What a pointless embarrassment. I'll bet that if the Yankees or Dodgers did something like this the worst players would be guys like Curtis Granderson and Matt Kemp.

I mean, did Johnny Moses and Rick Sweet have prior commitments or something?

[D-train]

Why didn't Griffey and Buhner do the HR derby? Too old?

Figures some guy who had like 8 plate appearances with the major league team would win the derby. I'll bet less than 5% of the fans in attendance even knew who the eff he was.

I posted that on X but I estimated less than .5%

[GL_Storm]

I remember following Romero when he was a prospect. I was disappointed he wasn't able to stick in the majors, but at least he was able to see some success in Japan.

[D-train]

I remember following Romero when he was a prospect. I was disappointed he wasn't able to stick in the majors, but at least he was able to see some success in Japan.

Romero, Mike Wilson, Vlad Balentin, Alex Liddi, Nick Franklin, Vinny Catricala quit baseball to become a cop. What a prospect wasteland....

[DavidGee24]

I remember following Romero when he was a prospect. I was disappointed he wasn't able to stick in the majors, but at least he was able to see some success in Japan.

Romero, Mike Wilson, Vlad Balentin, Alex Liddi, Nick Franklin, Vinny Catricala quit baseball to become a cop. What a prospect wasteland....

Balentien ended breaking the Japanese season home run record. He was coming up at the same time Adam Jones was and we didn't keep either one of them.

[GL_Storm]

I remember following Romero when he was a prospect. I was disappointed he wasn't able to stick in the majors, but at least he was able to see some success in Japan.

Romero, Mike Wilson, Vlad Balentin, Alex Liddi, Nick Franklin, Vinny Catricala quit baseball to become a cop. What a prospect wasteland....

I don't know. All of those guys developed and they all made the majors at one point, other than Catricala. Balentien had a very significant career in Japan and probably made some good money there. I don't think the Mariners were way off on any of these guys in terms of talent evaluation.