Community Picks: Seattle Mariners 0% vs Detroit Tigers 0%

There has been a lot of talk about pitchers participating in the home run derby this season during the All-Star festivities or maybe a pitcher’s only derby. It seems like a fun twist on a tradition that seems to need updating every few years. But putting pitchers in the home run derby evens seems a bit lackluster compared to how the California and Carolina Leagues staged their home run derby this week in San Diego. . @Storm_Baseball hosted a home run derby on the @USSMidwayMuseum that was won by @BakoBlaze star. How it looked: pic.twitter.com/v1e3Bgb2kY — San Diego U-T Sports (@sdutSports) June 21, 2016 Four of the best power hitters from both leagues came together Monday night on the deck of the USS Midway, a retired aircraft carrier, and launched home runs out into the ocean on the eve of the Class A Advanced California League vs. Carolina League All-Star Game. Each hitter got 10 swings each and had to first hit the ball over a 10-foot tall fence positioned about 150 feet from the plate. To be counted as a home run, a ball had to fly beyond several buoys in the water positioned about 350 feet from the plate. The only thing cooler than actualy participating in this home run derby might have been retrieving the balls out in the ocean with these guys. Whoever hits this guy should win #MidwayClassic . pic.twitter.com/7c6liyKyFJ — Jeff Sanders (@sdutSanders) June 21, 2016 The eight hitters involved took their hacks with their fellow All-Stars and fans standing around the batting cage or out near the fence. Kyle Petty, a 25-year-old prospect in the Seattle Mariners organization, won the derby beating Aderlin Rodriguez, a prospect in the Orioles’ system in the final. Dawel Lugo (Arizona), Chris Shaw (San Francisco), Travis Demeritte (Texas), Bobby Bradley (Cleveland), Yu-Cheng Chang (Cleveland) and Drew Ward (Washington) also participated. More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: - - - - - - - Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo Continue to Article

June 21, 2016 11:47:pm EST

Mike Aviles tapped a slow roller toward first base and there was nothing the Seattle Mariners could do with it. Aviles drove in the tiebreaking run with an infield single in the eighth inning, and the Detroit Tigers went on to beat the Mariners 4-2 on Tuesday night. Kyle Seager hit a two-run homer off Justin Verlander in the sixth to give Seattle a 2-0 lead, but Detroit chipped away in the late innings. Continue to Article

June 21, 2016 11:43:pm EST

SEATTLE — Spring training is a rite of passage for all baseball fans. It's the one time of year fans can get within inches of major-league players, see multiple games per day and sit directly behind home plate without dipping into their life savings. Plan things out right, and spring training can be one of the best experiences for any baseball fan. So when life-long Seattle Mariners fans Matt Gombossy and Cam Samac decided to make the trek to Arizona to see their beloved team play, they wanted to make sure it would be a trip they would never forget.  “We were pretty stoked about the team and wanted to do something goofy,” Samac says. After some brainstorming, the two settled on an idea: T-shirts. They would create a T-shirt that involved one of the players on the team. But Gombossy  and Samac weren't going to take the easy way out. Robinson Cano was too popular for this exercise, and Felix Hernandez shirts had already been done. "Anybody can do a Felix shirt … and we love Felix," Samac says. "We just wanted to pick a guy that no one knew a ton about." That player was Korean first baseman Dae-ho Lee. At the time, Lee was a relative unknown in The States. He had put up excellent numbers in the Korean Baseball Organization, and in Nippon Professional Baseball, but had come over to Major League Baseball with considerable questions. For one, he was huge. Lee was listed at 6-foot-4 and, depending on who you talked to, ranged from 280 pounds to 300 pounds. At age 33, he was already out of his baseball prime. On top of all that, it was unclear whether his success would carry over in MLB. His power potential was great, but that wouldn't matter if he couldn't handle pitchers in a more advanced league. Due to those concerns, Lee didn't even get a major-league contract. The Mariners signed him to a one-year, $4 million minor-league deal. For Gombossy  and Samac, none of that mattered. Continue to Article

June 21, 2016 12:23:pm EST