On Monday night in San Diego, the California League and Carolina League (both Single-A leagues) participated in the Midway Classic, a Home Run Derby on the USS Midway.
Yes, a Home Run Derby on an aircraft carrier, where you hit the ball into the Pacific Ocean.
The event — hosted by the Lake Elsinore Storm (San Diego Padres affiliate) — looks as awesome as it sounds:
.@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
Midway Classic home run derby hosted @Storm_Baseball on deck of @USSMidwayMuseum PHOTOS-> https://t.co/iwbx8d8WPb pic.twitter.com/KlXa9CwN5f
— K.C. Alfred (@KCAlfredPhoto) June 21, 2016
Josh Jackson of MiLB.Com explains how the contest worked:
The derby involved three rounds of 10 swings for each player still in the competition with five-swing tiebreaker rounds, and the sluggers swatted balls from the bow of the Midway into waters where volunteers on jet skis gathered the goners. A signal man waved a pair of flags in the air when balls cleared markers in the water.
The winner of the contest was Seattle Mariners prospect Kyle Petty of the Bakersfield Blaze. Petty hit 22 balls into the water, and talked to MiLB.Com about how amazing the event was:
“There’s not really many chances you get to hit a baseball and watch it disappear into the ocean,” the Mariners infield prospect said, “so you just want to embrace it and take it all in.”
“Probably the coolest and one of the more fun things I’ve ever gotten to do,” he said.
[MiLB]
