Home Run Derby Is A Family Affair For Wil Myers

SAN DIEGO—Shortly after accepting an invitation last week to participate in Monday’s All-Star Game Home Run Derby, Wil Myers began his search for a pitcher.

Myers first asked Padres coach Eddie Rodriguez, who declined because he had plans to spend the all-star break with his family.

With his first choice out, Myers made a call to his family. The man he would choose to pitch to him would be his 19-year-old brother Beau, who just wrapped up his freshman season at Appalachian State.

“Obviously Eddie would’ve been great,” Myers said, “but it’s going to be even cooler with my brother out there.”

After years of playing together in their backyard of their North Carolina home, the Myers brothers will take the field together tonight at Petco Park for the 2016 home run derby.

For Wil, it will be the thrill of participating in his first derby. For Beau, it is the opportunity to step on a major league diamond in front of 50,000 people, well beyond the largest crowd he has ever played before.

“I’d say opening day at Coastal Carolina for us was the biggest crowd I’ve been in front of, and there was maybe three or four thousand people there,” said Beau Myers, an outfielder and third baseman for the Mountaineers. “I’ve actually been pretty calm about it. Today’s the day. I’ve had a little bit of nerves, but nothing to where I’ve really been that worried about it.”

The Myers brothers took their training for this moment seriously.

Wil flew Beau out to join the Padres at Dodger Stadium last week in preparation. For four straight days leading into the all-star break, the Myers brothers held their own private sessions in the batting cage to prepare for the derby.

Eventually, Beau graduated to throwing pregame batting practice to Wil on the field at Dodger Stadium.

“Before he got out here he actually sent me a couple videos of him throwing BP in the cage, so hopefully he’s ready,” Wil Myers said. “He looked good, so that’s all you can ask for. Throw strikes, that’s all you need.”

Beau Myers, who started 29 games as a freshman for Appalachian State, took it as a chance to make an impression on the Padres coaching staff.

“I met Beau and he seems like a great guy,” Padres manager Andy Green said. “Has a nice paw too, just like Wil. Big handshake, crushed my little hands. He’s a strong kid.”

He is also someone with steel nerves. Beau met the media scrum at all-star media day with a steady voice and calm demeanor, handling the dozens of cameras thrust into his face like an experienced pro.

Those traits that will serve him well once the derby starts, and his pitches will be broadcast live into millions of homes across the country.

“I feel great about it, I really do,” Beau Myers said. “Just gotta keep it right over the plate and he’s going to look to hit ‘em out over center field.”

Wil Myers has lofty hopes for the derby. He enters as the No. 6 seed against the Reds’ Adam Duvall and is just the fifth Padres player to participate in a home run derby in the event’s 31-year history. Baseball America’s No. 4 prospect in 2013 is hoping to do what Todd Frazier did last season in Cincinnati, and win the derby in his home park in front of the home crowd.

Even if it doesn’t play out that way, though, it will still always be a night for the Myers family to remember.

“Win or lose, it doesn’t really matter,” Wil Myers said. “It’s a cool thing for me and him to go out there and do and something that we’ll remember for a long time.”