Aderlin Rodriguez of the Bowie BaySox is the 2017 Eastern League Jordan’s Furniture Tempur-Pedic Home Run Derby champion.
Rodriguez defeated the Erie SeaWolves’ Gabriel Quintana, 14-13 to earn the title, highlighting 29 home runs he hit throughout the competition.
Quintana had more than Rodriguez over the entire contest with 37 homers, including one blast in the final round 450 feet to right field between the Sam Adams Bar and Grill and the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel.
That longball highlighted a monstrous semi-final round where he outmatched the Akron Rubber Ducks’ Yu-Cheng Chang, 18-4.
The host Fisher Cats had a pair of contestants in the contest: Ryan McBroom and Gunnar Heidt.
Although McBroom lost to Yu-Cheng 5-4 in the first round, Heidt defeated top-seeded Mitch Walding of the Reading Fightin’ Phils 8-7 before losing 8-5 to Rodriguez in the semi-finals.
Heidt and McBroom combined so far have 19 home runs this year, one less than Walding.
Richmond’s Slade Heathcott had six home runs and Binghamton’s Jiandido Tromp had five, each coming one short of defeating Rodriguez and Quintana, respectively.
