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Ronald Acuna and Corey Seager faced an uphill battle in Tuesday night’s home run derby. While both put up solid numbers, they each landed a first-round loss in competition.
Many have been quick to point to their HR Derby pitchers as being the reason for their early exits. And they could have a point.
Acuna smacked 19 homers in the first round, losing by a single dinger to two-time defending champ Pete Alonso. But he also had a few swings and misses during his time at the dish.
Fans noted that his pitcher was throwing what looked to be some finely placed cutters along the outside corner of the plate. The tough pitches got Acuna off to a slow start, though he did find a groove later on.
https://twitter.com/MrMatthewCFB/status/1549193263005011969?s=20&t=_er1n7Wu2SF-7UmJvXxEug
The baseball world was quick to chime in on social media, noting the BP pitcher’s impressive swing and miss arsenal.
Bro why is Acuna’s pitcher dotting cutters on the outside corner lmao
— Addison (@YankeeWRLD) July 19, 2022
Acuna gonna strike out?
— KFC (@KFCBarstool) July 19, 2022
This Home Run Derby pitcher is significantly tougher than the 8000 Nationals pitchers Acuna has faced over the last month
— Clem (@TheClemReport) July 19, 2022
Ronald Acuna’s pitcher pic.twitter.com/4I2pLltUUw
— Barstool Baseball (@StoolBaseball) July 19, 2022
But Acuna wasn’t the only hitter to see struggles at the plate.
Fans call out HR Derby pitchers on social media
Corey Seager’s pitcher (his dad) was also the target of criticism. But his reasoning was a bit different than the darts delivered by Acuna’s arm. Fans actually believed he was going through the motions just a bit too slow, especially considering his opponent had already hit a first-round high 32 homers.
Corey Seager looking at his dad after pitching these balls super slow pic.twitter.com/nB4yhy9PwI
— Bet The Bases (@betthebases) July 19, 2022
Papa Seager gotta go a whole lot faster
— Eric Hubbs (@BarstoolHubbs) July 19, 2022
"We only have three minutes to get 33 HR's, we need to go fast"
Seager's pitcher: pic.twitter.com/aYEk8OZcBb
— br_betting (@br_betting) July 19, 2022
Seager wound up hitting the second-most home runs in the first round of action, but he fell to Julio Rodriguez by a score of 32-24. Had pops gone a bit faster, maybe he could’ve caught up, but it would’ve been a tall task.
The pitcher can be just as important as the hitter in the HR Derby. These two competitors learned that the hard way.