Debuting Guerrero and Bichette headline Tuesday's HR Derby
LANSING, Mich. - Teenagers Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and Bo Bichette, two of the most touted prospects in the Toronto Blue Jays' organization, will make their Lansing Lugnuts debuts in a pregame Home Run Derby before the Crosstown Showdown presented by Auto-Owners Insurance on Tuesday, September 6th at Cooley Law School Stadium.
Gates open at 5:00 p.m., with the Home Run Derby starting at 5:30 p.m., and first pitch for the 10th annual exhibition between the Nuts and Spartans set for 7:05 p.m.
The first 2,000 fans to enter the ballpark will receive a limited edition Spartan-green Lugnuts baseball cap. The night is also a $2 Tuesday, featuring $2 beer and fountain-drink specials.
Guerrero and Bichette join Lugnuts leading slugger Connor Panas in the Home Run Derby lineup, opposing Michigan State power hitters Dan Durkin, Marty Bechina and Zack McGuire.
The Derby will feature two rounds, with the top Lugnuts home run hitter and the top Spartans home run hitter moving into the final. A 1st-place and 2nd-place trophy will be awarded.
The Sluggers
* Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., 17, was rated the top international free agent in 2015. Guerrero, currently ranked the Blue Jays' #7 prospect by MLB Pipeline, spent his first professional season at third base for the Appalachian League's Bluefield Blue Jays, batting .271 with eight home runs and 46 RBIs in 62 games. His father, Vlad Sr., was a nine-time All-Star during a decorated 16-year Major League career, compiling 2,590 hits and 449 home runs and batting .318.
* Bo Bichette, 18, was selected 66th overall in the 2016 June Draft two days after he was named Florida's Mr. Baseball and Gatorade's Baseball Player of the Year for Florida, batting .576 with 13 home runs for Lakewood High School. Bichette, MLB Pipeline's #12 prospect in the Blue Jays' organization, won the Under Armour All-America Game Home Run Derby at Wrigley Field in 2015. His father, Dante, was a four-time All-Star who slugged 274 career home runs in a 14-year MLB career, leading the National League with 40 homers in 1995 as a member of the Colorado Rockies.
* Connor Panas, 23, crushed the longest home run of the season with a mammoth 450-footer on July 24th vs. Kane County. Panas leads the Lugnuts with 15 home runs and ranks first in the Midwest League in HR/AB ratio. The native of Toronto was named the MAAC Male Student-Athlete of the Year in both 2014 and 2015, winning the 2015 MAAC Tournament MVP Award, and was drafted in the ninth round by his hometown Blue Jays. Panas blasted 18 career roundtrippers while at Canisius College, 11 during his senior year alone.
* Senior Dan Durkin slugged six home runs in 2016, batting .324 with 67 hits in 56 games for the Spartans, sharing the Steve Garvey Most Improved Player Award with Dan Chmielewski. A native of Tinley Park, Ill., was a two-time team captain and first-team Class 4A all-state at Victor J. Andrew High School, where he also played football and basketball.
* Sophomore Marty Bechina is a native of Chicago, Ill., where he was honored with the Catholic League Blue Lawless Award after batting .398 during his senior year at Saint Rita High School. In his first season at MSU, Bechina hit .260 with 11 doubles and two homers in 55 games.
* Junior Zach McGuire hails from Sterling Heights, Mich., batting .248 with 29 hits and three home runs in first two years with the Spartans. At Sterling Heights Stevenson, McGuire was named Sterling Heights Stevenson's 2014 Mr. Baseball in addition to All-State and Macomb County Player of the Year.
To purchase tickets or request more information, visit the stadium box office, located at 505 E. Michigan Ave., calling (517) 485-4500, or go online to lansinglugnuts.com.
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