The home run derby as it is currently done is way too long, contains too much talking by Chris Berman, too many interviews and shots of players trying to either “increase the drama” or “humanize the players”. Somewhere about the second round I quit paying attention. The last two years I must confess I didn’t stay up to the end–three hours of watching the same guys hit gets repetitive and the excitement is gone.

Jose Bautista swings for the fences in the Home Run Derby. But really, what's the point? (Image Credit: Scott Rovak/USA TODAY Sports via US PRESSWIRE)

Here is my plan for jazzing up the home run derby. I guarantee that everyone would stay up to the end of the competition if I was put in charge. My home run derby would look like this–there would be three competitions, one for pitchers, one to see who could hit the longest home run, and one to see who could hit the most home runs.

Wouldn’t it be great to take four all star pitchers from each league, ones who have hit at least one or two home runs in a game situation or, in the case of the AL pitchers, ones who just want to give it a try or who did some hitting when they pitched in the NL, and let them go at it? Wouldn’t you love to see Stephen Strasburg wailing away at some BP pitches in a home run derby? I think he would be in the running to win the pitcher home run derby. Talk about pitcher bragging rights–you know pitchers are so competitive that they would do anything to be able to call themselves the home run derby winner.

Next would be the competition for the longest home run. Take the eight guys who appear most often on the list for hitting the longest home runs up to the all star break of over 425 feet and see who can hit the longest long ball of the night. ESPN could publicize its home run tracker website by using it to select the competitors. Lets see who can send it out of the park. Longest home run wins. If someone can’t participate because of injury or because they want their break, go down the list to get your participants.

Then the final competition, hitting the most home runs. One round, ten outs per competitor, four competitors per league, whoever hits the most home runs wins. No three rounds, no watching the same guys hitting over and over again. Just one head to head competition. Whoever can get out there and hit the most home runs the first and only chance they get wins. The participants should be either the four players from each league who hit the most home runs last season or who are leading their respective leagues through the end of June each year.

I have to admit I don’t like the current method of selecting the participants, where the team captain selects the competitors. How in the world is Adam Dunn, who has hit twenty-five home runs this year, only two less than Jose Bautista, not participating in the home run derby this year? Adam hits lots of home runs and he hits for distance. Matt Kemp deciding to participate by hitting instead of by just being the captain after just coming off the DL worked out about like expected–he hit one home run. Really–Joey Votto, Jason Heyward or Ryan Braun would have been better choices. Ooops– Braun isn’t an acceptable choice to MLB since he won his drug suspension case by showing how cheap skate and inept the drug testing program is.

These changes would make the home run derby much more interesting and widen the list of players that people would get to see participate. It would be more interesting than watching Prince Fielder and Bautista take a third set of swings.

Bryce Harper will be at this year's All Star Game after all, as an injury replacement for Miami's Giancarlo Stanton. (Image Credit: Andrew B. Fielding-US PRESSWIRE)

Harper’s case for making the National League squad was always relatively strong. He’s batting .283/.355/.475 with 8 HR and 25 RBI through his first career 273 plate appearances. The phenom is also arguably one of the most exciting young players in the NL and all of baseball. Showcasing such a player is what the Midsummer Classic has always been about – or at least what it used to be about before the game “counted” for something.

While Harper’s case is strong, he hasn’t performed on the field like a surefire All Star. He’s been outhit by Atlanta’s Martin Prado and outslugged by Arizona’s Jason Kubel, both of whom are not participating in this week’s game. He has done enough, however, to justify being named by Tony LaRussa as an injury replacement.

Stanton, Miami’s best slugger and the only true All Star the team currently has, will not be participating in the game after suffering a knee injury that will keep him out of the game and will likely keep him on the shelf for the next 6-8 weeks. Stanton was also slated to appear in Monday’s Home Run Derby, in which he’ll be replaced by Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen. Miami will not have a representative at this year’s All Star Game after the injury, a surprising turn of events considering MLB’s policy to have to have each team represented by at least one player.

Ian Desmond is putting the Nationals ahead of the All Star Game on his priority list. It's tough to fault him for it. (Image Credit: Brad Mills-US PRESSWIRE)

Desmond has been coping with the injury since early June, though he has not received any sort of medical treatment or cortisone shots to alleviate the discomfort. He also has continued to appear in the lineup nearly everyday, showing minimal signs that he is indeed hurting. His production at the plate, meanwhile, would leave zero questioning his health. Desmond is batting .282/.314/.506 on the year with 16 HR and 49 RBI. He’s already set career highs in some statistical categories and is on pace to break franchise records for shortstops by year’s end.

Atlanta Braves outfielder Michael Bourn has been named as Desmond’s replacement on the All Star roster.

While Desmond has not shown that he’s hurt on the field of play and has not missed significant time because of it, some are questioning whether it’s right that he is choosing to skip the game in order to rest for the season’s second half. However, this has become a growing trend across baseball for many of the past few seasons and Desmond is far from the worst offender with such behavior. That has not stopped many members of the media – notably ESPN’s Buster Olney on Twitter – from openly criticizing the decision.

However, it’s hard to fault Desmond for essentially putting the Nationals first. He easily could have kept his mouth shut, gone to Kansas City, and participated in the game. But with the Nationals comfortably in first place and above .500 this deep into the season for the first time in franchise history, some things just simply became more important.