Jose Ramirez Reveals His Choice for HR Derby Pitcher

Only one switch hitter has won the MLB Home Run Derby and that was when Ruben Sierra shared the title with Eric Davis in 1989. Cleveland's Jose Ramirez will attempt to be the second one to do so when he competes on Tuesday night with a close family friend tossing him the ball from the mound.

Jose Ramirez Home Run Derby

Ramirez revealed that his pitcher will be Junior Betances, a hitting coach for the Guardians' Double-A affiliation. The two first met when Ramirez was only 17 years old and Betances heard from a friend that he was a special baseball talent. Meeting up nearly 12 years later on a stage like this is thrilling.

Betances helped Ramirez make his way through the minor leagues and acted as one of his main mentors. That's not something to be taken lightly. Ramirez could've stalled out in the major leagues like a lot of other players, but he has become a four-time all-Star and yearly MVP candidate, instead.

While Ramirez has never competed in the home run derby before, there's no denying that he is a powerful batter at the plate. The Guardians standout has smacked 182 home runs across 1,067 games, including 19 this summer. That mark ranks fifth among derby participants.

The 2022 MLB HR Derby will kick off at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN as Ramirez faces Washington's Juan Soto in the first round. He has odds set at +145 to advance and odds set at +1600 to be the last one standing, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

Larry Rupp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Larry Rupp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username phillyfan424. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.