Marty Herum Wins Home Run Derby In Front Of Home Crowd

VISALIA, Calif.—Marty Herum was so exhausted he couldn’t get his legs into his swing anymore.

After hours standing in 105-degree heat and three rounds of home run-hitting exertion, the 25-year-old Visalia third baseman didn’t know how much he had left in him.

As the clock ticked down to the final seconds with Herum in need of one more homer, he summoned the very last bit of strength he had.

Herum launched his 10th and final home run of the championship round as time expired, lifting him over Inland Empire’s Jose Rojas for the title of 2017 California League Home Run Derby champion at Recreation Ballpark on Monday.

“I looked up and it was seven seconds left and was like ‘My bat may only stay in my hands for one more swing,’” said Herum, a Diamondbacks prospect who signed as an undrafted free agent in 2013 out of Wisconsin-Whitewater. “I got lucky he threw it perfectly and I put the barrel on it.”

Cheered on by his cowbell-wielding home crowd, Herum launched 14 home runs in the first round and 15 homers in the second. He hit the most homers in each round and finished with 39 total.

“It’s awesome having all (the home crowd) behind you,” Herum said. “It gives you something to build off of. I tried to find a little extra energy in there behind them.”

Rojas, the Angels’ 36th-round pick in 2016, led off the championship round with nine homers, including a stream of towering drives down the right-field line.

Herum, who has never hit more than five home runs in any season, stepped up and promptly got up to speed, tying Rojas with 30 seconds left on the two-minute clock.

But the physical toll of the night caught up to him, and he found himself continually coming up just short of the go-ahead blast.

“I was trying not to use my legs too much, otherwise my whole body would just go to crap,” Herum said. “I just tried to stay with it with my arms and my upper body.”

Knowing he wouldn’t have the strength to win a tiebreaker and needing a perfect pitch, Herum took a shoulder-high offering on the inner half from Visalia hitting coach Vince Harrison and pummeled it to left-center. As the ball soared high over the netting beyond the wall, the crowd rose in unison and Herum’s North Division All-Star teammates raced to pounce on him at home plate.

“It feels good,” he said. “I don’t hit very many home runs in games or anything, so it was fun to come out here and do that.”

It was Herum’s second major comeback after Giants No. 9 prospect Aramis Garcia led off the semifinals with 13 longballs. Rojas edged Padres No. 10 prospect Josh Naylor in a battle of lefthanded hitters demonstrating huge pull power in the other semifinal.

The Home Run Derby capped a day of unorthodox festivities. Visalia, an agricultural community centered on livestock and citrus, hosted pre-game lasso roping, lemon tossing, chicken catching and cow-milking contests for the players to participate in.

Rancho Cucamonga’s D.J. Peters, Stockton’s Sean Murphy and Modesto’s Chris Mariscal all failed to successfully toss a lemon into a hula-hoop and lost to a fan participant in the lemon-tossing contest. Padres No. 4 prospect Cal Quantrill won the lasso-roping over Visalia reliever Bo Takahashi. Stockton outfielder Skye Bolt led the North Division to the chicken-catching crown when he nabbed the biggest rooster on the field, and the South Division team of Lake Elsinore’s Colby Blueberg, Inland Empire’s Jose Rodriguez, and Rancho Cucamona’s Luke Raley won the cow-milking contest over the North team of Visalia’s Mason McCullough, San Jose’s Mike Connolly and Modesto’s Nick Neidert.

Raley, the Dodgers’ seventh-round pick in 2016, celebrated by drinking some of his freshly squeezed milk and convinced his teammates to take a victory sip as well.

“That was the first time I’ve ever milked a cow,” said Raley, a native of Hinckley, Ohio. “I did all right for my first time I think. The milk tasted pretty good actually. A little warm. I can’t complain.”

McCullough, who had previously won a cow-milking contest with Visalia in 2015, also drank his milk with his teammates.

“I’m disappointed in my team,” the Diamondbacks righthanded reliever said. “I expected more. And by more, I mean more milk.”

2017 CALIFORNIA LEAGUE HOME RUN DERBY

First Round

Josh Naylor (Lake Elsinore) def. Ibandel Isabel (Rancho Cucamonga), 7-6

Aramis Garcia (San Jose) def. Seth Brown (Stockton), 5-5 (Garcia wins tiebreaker 4-1)

Jose Rojas (Inland Empire) def. Sam Hilliard (Lancaster), 9-9 (Rojas wins tiebreaker 5-4)

Marty Herum (Visalia) def. Logan Taylor (Modesto) 14-3

Second Round

Jose Rojas def. Josh Naylor, 10-9

Marty Herum def. Aramis Garica, 15-13

Championship Round

Marty Herum def. Jose Rojas, 10-9