Navarrete Finishes Second In HR Derby

By Brian Bohl on July 17, 2008

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Ray Navarrete has compiled plenty of clutch hits for the Ducks. So it was no surprise that he belted a much-needed home run when down to his last out last night. The towering shot helped him advance to the final round of the Atlantic League‘s home run derby.

“I took the best swing I could and luckily I ran into one,” Navarrete said. “It was a great experience.”

Navarrete was forced to settle for a second-place tie when Somerset’s Josh Pressley smacked six home runs in the final round, including a homer off the side of the rightfield scoreboard and a tack-on shot that cleared the batters’ eye 402 feet away in centerfield. Pressley wowed the hometown fans with his long blasts, as the Patriots first baseman earned a loud ovation from the sold-out Commerce Bank Ballpark crowd.

Navarrete, the Ducks lone representative in the contest’s field of six, avoided a four-way tie in the first round when he lifted a pitch into the second row of advertisements after using up six of his allotted seven outs.

“Ray did well. He’s not as big as some of the other guys, so he really has to hit it to get it out,” said catcher and teammate Jamie Pogue. “A lot of times you try to do too much and muscle up. It slows your bat speed down a little bit. A lot of people say the toughest thing to do in sports is hit a baseball. Even when the guy’s trying to let you hit it, it’s not as easy as it looks.”

Entering the four-day All-Star break, Navarrete recorded a league-leading 21 doubles and 38 extra-base hits. The 30-year-old batted leadoff and played second base for the Liberty Division during the actual game. Navarrete earned that spot by ranking second in hits (90), runs scored (60) and third in home runs (16).

“I’ll be the first to keep telling people that I really don’t think I’m a home run guy,” Navarrete said. “I’ve been running into some balls into the last couple of years.

“The home run derby was a lot of fun this year. It takes a little while to get used to. In batting practice, you have the cage around you and you also don’t have 6,000 people cheering you.”

Ducks third base coach Kevin Baez was Navarrete’s pitcher for the home run derby, where his offering lead to Navarrete’s first homer on third swing. After advancing to the final round, Navarrete started to pick up his pace.

With totals resetting and each of the three finalists receiving another seven outs, Navarrete initially looked tired before regaining a second win. He once again pulled the pitch to left on his fourth swing before adding his second homer to straightaway center. Back-to-back homers capped his evening, where he finished tied with Bridgeport’s Jesse Hoorelbeke with four homers in the last round.

“I’m glad I wasn’t shutout and me and Jesse gave the Patriots guy a little run for his money.”

Pressley is listed as 6-6 and 230 pounds while Hoorelbeke is 6-3, 225 pounds. Navarrete said he didn’t let the body-mass discrepancies bother him.

“I’m getting a little older and I realize that of course being bigger and stronger helps, but in baseball, you don’t need to be the biggest of guys to learn how to hit the ball a little bit harder,” said the generously listed six-foot, 190-pound infielder. “My last couple of years here, I’ve played with such great guys, it taught me a couple of things. I’ve learned how to use my body.”

Unlike some major league home run derby participants, Navarrete said he is not concerned that the competition would negatively impact his swing once the regular season resumes Friday night.

“I don’t think it’s going to have any effect on my swing,” Navarrete said. “I have a certain approach. I’m going to stick by it. God willing, I’ll run into a bunch more of home runs but if I don’t hit any, it just wasn’t meant to be.”

Dave LaPoint, the Ducks manager and skipper of the Liberty Division, said he enjoyed watching his player compete.

“It was pretty impressive. I thought he loosened up but then he got tired,” LaPoint said. “But Pressley just had too good of a swing and knows this ballpark pretty well.”

But not even Pressley’s power displayed rivaled Josh Hamilton’s epic 28-homer first round during MLB’s derby at Yankee Stadium. That feat wowed Don Zimmer, who was in attendance and part of the pregame festivities. Zimmer, a member of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers championship club, said Hamilton’s outburst was once of the most impressive things he’s seen in his nearly 60 years in baseball.

“What Josh Hamilton did was something people will never forget,” the 77-year-old Zimmer said. “Just to keep looking up and seeing all the home runs was very, very special.”

Zimmer played, coached and managed some of the best players in the game’s history. When asked what former player who would have liked to have seen hit in a home run derby, the current Tampa Bay Rays senior baseball advisor said Jim Rice would have thrived.

“Jim Rice was absolutely awesome. I would have liked to have see him in a home run derby with anybody,” said Zimmer, who managed Rice with the Red Sox from 1976-80.

Navarrete wasn’t hitting in Yankee Stadium or outslugging any baseball legends, but that didn’t stop the former Mets prospect from having a good on a sweltering July night.

“The stadium looked incredible,” he said. “It was a great day and a great experience. It’s always a great opportunity to be in the same clubhouse with the other guys you look up to throughout the season and get a chance to talk to them.”

Readers Comments