Lets all hope there is no roids-induced, shell-of-a-player that we trade for later, in his way of a trophy.
My initial reaction was like 'huh, bregman in the hr derby? seems strange.' After checking out the stats, just found out that he's leading the team in HRs. Never would have guessed without looking it up. Always assumed it was Springer or Gattis.
Contest is interesting because Derby is a clutch/primetime situation. Bregman is ALREADY known for clutch ability. So, figures he'll do well. Bagwell, sadly, didn't typically do well in Derbys,... he wasn't considered clutch. Berkman mostly did well IIRC... he's mostly a clutch player.
If a few dozen swings of what amounts to televised batting practice can have any lasting effects on your swing, well....it can't actually.
We know television adds reality Not EVERY batting practice swing is meant for HR, so there's that rebuttal also. Players' falling-off immediately after the Contest is already documented. Not quite Madden Curse level though.
He lost (due to the 440+ bonus which is a huge disadvantage for a guy his size) but wow that was an awesome performance for him.
