Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz will take part in the 2011 MLB All-Star Game Home Run Derby as it was announced that he’ll be the captain of the AL squad. Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers has been named the NL Captain.
Here’s the release from MLB:
Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers and David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox have been named the first-ever captains of the National League and American League squads for the 2011 State Farm Home Run Derby. Ortiz is the defending champion, having won the 2010 State Farm Home Run Derby in Anaheim, while Fielder won the previous year in St. Louis. The 2011 State Farm Home Run Derby will take place on Monday, July 11 at Chase Field in Phoenix at 8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific and will be televised nationally on ESPN.
A new element of this year’s State Farm Home Run Derby format will be the team competition between the American League and National League. Fielder and Ortiz will each determine the other three participants on their teams and will personally extend the invitations. All players are eligible to participate in the State Farm Home Run Derby, not only those named to All-Star rosters. Each of the captains will select a charity of their choice which they will be hitting for during the Derby.
State Farm and Major League Baseball will donate a significant amount of money for charity through the event. The donations will be made as follows:
- $150,000 will be awarded to the winning captain’s charity in his name
- $100,000 will be awarded to Boys & Girls Club of America (BGCA) in the name of the winning captain
- $25,000 will be awarded to the charity of the captain of the losing team in his name
- The remainder will be donated to BGCA on behalf of State Farm and MLB
The total amount of money distributed will be determined by the home runs hit during the competition. State Farm and MLB will combine to donate $18,000 for every home run hit with a Gold Ball during the competition. The dollar figure was selected to coincide with the number of State Farm agents throughout the U.S. and Canada. State Farm will also give $3,000 to BGCA for every non-Gold Ball hit during the Derby. Both Fielder and Ortiz have been supporters of BGCA including participating in public service announcements.
While the format to determine the individual champion will remain unchanged, the total number of home runs hit by all players in all rounds will be tabulated for the AL and NL to determine the winning team, captain and charity recipient. Each player will get 10 outs per round, the four players with the highest total of home runs will advance to the second round, and the two players with the highest cumulative number of home runs in the first two rounds will advance to the Championship Round, where first and second round home runs do not carry over for individual scores.
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