Tonight Kyle Schwarber becomes the 8th Phillies player to ever compete in the HR Derby. Before him, Ryan Howard competed 3 times and then Jim Thome, Chase Utley, Bobby Abreu, and Rhys Hoskins all competed once as Phillies.
It will be Schwarber’s second time competing, as he was in the 2018 Derby as a member of the cubs. In that year he came 2nd, losing to Bryce Harper. Coincidently, he defeated Rhys Hoskins in the 2nd round that year, meaning 3 of the 4 semi-finalists that year are currently Phillies teammates.
The HR Derby began in 1985. It took nearly 20 years for the Phillies to get a representative. But in the 18 years since, they have now had 8 players in it. It has undergone many changes since the first year when it was one round and the most anyone hit was 6 home runs. Now, no one has failed to reach 6 homers since 2014, and players routinely hit 20+ home runs in a single round. They have changed the format too. Since 2014 it has had a bracket format, with players going head to head to see who advances to the next round.
This year Schwarber will face off with Albert Pujols in round 1. But we aren’t here to talk about tonight’s derby. Instead, let’s revisit the last 7 times a Phillies Player has competed in the HR Derby. Who put on a show? Who came up short? Who forgot they were mic’d up and cursed New Yorkers out on live TV? Let’s revisit the Phillies’ performances in past HR derbies.