San Diego Padres Wil Myers Gains Home Run Derby Advantage

The San Diego Padres are likely going to unload some of their big name, high priced players this trading season, but one name that won’t be on the move is Wil Myers, who is having a nice bounce-back season for the struggling All-Star hosts. On Monday Myers will participate in the Home Run Derby, and on Saturday night Ken Rosenthal reported that Myers will have a special advantage. Well, kind of.

I mean, who doesn’t want to take their younger brother deep when he’s serving up meatballs? Entering the final game before the break, Myers has 19 home runs, good for 9th in the National League, tied with Giancarlo Stanton and Bryce Harper, while his 60 RBI rank 6th.

Myers is three games shy of a career high, so unless his brother Beau (as Rosenthal corrected the spelling in a later tweet) beans Myers, then he should set a new career high for games played shortly after the All-Star break.

Another advantage that Myers has going for him is that he will play the hometown hero, much like Todd Frazier did last year in Cincinnati while he was a member of the Reds. Since its inception in 1985, only two hometown players have won the Derby, with Ryne Sandberg winning at Wrigley in 1990 joining Frazier last year.

In what is a rather lackluster field, Myers has the chance to join their company.

One of the best parts of the Home Run Derby is the familial bonds that are rarely shown between ballplayers and their loved one during this event. Generally it’s players with their children, reacting to balls being hit further than anyone has ever seen before, but now and again it’s a father pitching to his son, or as will be the case on Monday, brother pitching to brother.

And if being a player from the host city and participating in the Derby weren’t enough, Wil Myers also made headlines yesterday for renting out his spare bedroom on Airbnb in the effort to be a generous host. So who rented out the spare room? None other than Noah Syndergaard of the New York Mets who is paying a whopping $63 a night for the accommodations.

Next: Top 10 All-Star Game Performances

To recap: Myers’ younger brother will be pitching to him, he will have the crowd behind him, and he will be sharing an apartment with Thor. If that isn’t enough to add up to a Home Run Derby win, then it’ll at least be one heck of a break from the season.