In August, I listened to a podcast show. In the show, an analyst indicated a player seemed to be tired in the second half of the 2023 season and the main reason why might be that he participated in the Home Run Derby.
But, firstly, let’s quickly take a look at these players’ performances before the All-Star break. In the first half of the 2023 season, most of these 8 players who participated in the HR derby actually did hit well. In particular, Luis Robert Jr., Adolis Garcia, Mookie Betts and Pete Alonso each crushed 20+ home runs before the All-Star break. Moreover, Betts’ OPS was over .900 in the first half of this season. However, 3 of them finished the first half of the 2023 season with an OPS below .800 and Julio Rodriguez didn’t have a good start this season. Before the All-Star break, Julio Rodriguez only slashed .249/.310/.411 with 13 home runs and 49 RBI over 87 games.
In the Home Run Derby, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. did a fantastic job to defeat Randy Arozarena in the final. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had an OPS below .800 before the All-Star break, after winning the HR derby, his OPS is below .800 so far in the second half of this season. Nonetheless, for Randy Arozarena, the story is a bit different. He had a great start in 2023 with an OPS of .855 before the All-Star break. But, after the All-Star break, he now only hits .221/.326/.372 with 7 home runs and 25 RBI through 60 games.
Randy Arozarena’s OPS drops significantly after the All-Star break. At the same time, other players face a similar problem. In the first half of this season, Luis Robert Jr. and Adolis Garcia each owned an OPS over .800. Nevertheless, they each now have an OPS below .800 after the All-Star break. Adolis Garcia missed some playing time due to injury. He’s just back to the Rangers lineup and let’s see whether he can heat up at the end of the regular season. In the meantime, Luis Robert Jr.’s OPS was .899 before the All-Star break, but so far in the second half of this season, his OPS is .786 . An OPS of .786 isn’t so bad, however, it’s hard to compare his great performance before the All-Star break.
Finally, Mookie Betts keeps hitting well. His OPS was over .900 in the first half of the 2023 season. He only crushed 11 home runs in the HR Derby. Nevertheless, after the All-Star break, he already smashed 13 home runs across 59 games and Betts’ OPS is over 1.000. In the meantime, Julio Rodriguez has a fantastic second half season. He already blasted 18 home runs after the All-Star break and has an OPS over .900.
As we can see, certainly, some players who participated in the HR derby don’t hit as well as they did before the All-Star break. For example, Randy Arozarena owned an OPS over .800 before the Mid-Summer Classic, but in the second half of the season, his OPS has dropped a lot. Nonetheless, some players just continue hitting well. Very interestingly, Julio Rodriguez was off to a slow start, but after participating in the HR Derby, he just has become one of the hottest hitters in the majors.
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