Major League Baseball rolled into Fort Wayne last week bringing local players right along with them.  A pair of Chargers were a part of the Derby with senior Braden Christlieb as one of the two catchers for the event, while former baseball standout and pro bowler Jordan Malott was an alternate for the event in the case one of the other players could not make it.

MLB is in the third year of the Homerun Derby X event which is a 3 vs 3 event where four teams compete in a semi-final, final format with the team scoring the most points declared the winner.  Each team consists of one former MLB player, one softball /women’s baseball star, and one local college player per squad.

The teams battled through the night to determine the winner with the Tenderloins ultimately coming out on top led by USWNT star Alex Hugo who was spraying balls out all the ballpark during both her at-bats, in fact she was so good that former big leaguer Nick Swisher didn’t even have to come to the plate in the bottom of the third and he beyond excited to have to bat, “No way [was he disappointed], it was awesome.”

Christlieb was one of the two catchers selected to be a part of the event with the other being Homestead catcher Jonny Ankenbrook.

Christlieb believes that it was a good event, “it was fun, cool to be a part of an MLB event.”

In the first-of-its-kind event at Parkview Field, it was a roaring success for the Tincaps and the MLB with Media Relations director John Nolan saying that it was a ” big win for the city and the fans seemed to really enjoy it” on a broadcast Wednesday night.

Homerun Derby X rolls to Albuquerque, N.M.,  on August 23 for the second of four stops on the 2024 tour..