MEMPHIS, Tennessee – Memphis Redbirds third baseman Patrick Wisdom has been named one of three participants for the Pacific Coast League in the Triple-A Home Run Derby, the league announced Friday.
The Home Run Derby will be the final event of the Triple-A Challenge and Home Run Derby on Monday. This season’s All-Star game will take place on Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio and is hosted by the Columbus Clippers of the International League, Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. The Skills Challenge is scheduled to begin at 5:40 p.m. (CT), with the Home Run Derby being scheduled to begin at 8:15 p.m. (CT).
There will be six participants, three from each league, and each participant will swing for two minutes or a maximum of 25 swings, with the top-three advancing. Each participant will begin fresh each round, and orange baseballs hit for home runs will double all points. The event will be live streamed for free at http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?content_id=2222654983&sid=t445 beginning at 5:30 p.m. (CT). The Skills Challenge will be first, followed by the Home Run Derby.
Wisdom will compete against A.J. Reed of Fresno and Zach Borenstein of Las Vegas on the PCL side, and Chad Huffman of Toledo, Carlos Franco of Gwinnett, and Joey Meneses of Lehigh Valley on the International League side.
Wisdom, in the midst of one of his best seasons, was named a PCL All-Star last week, marking the first time he has been selected to a midseason All-Star roster in his career. Wisdom is one of three All-Stars for Memphis, and the only position player, joining pitchers Dakota Hudson and Daniel Poncedeleon.
Last year, Wisdom had one of the finest seasons of his career and in Redbirds history, hitting .243 with a career-high 111 hits, 31 home runs, and 89 RBI. He was named to the All-Pacific Coast League Team after the season, and was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2017 PCL playoffs. His 31 home runs in 2017 were tied for fourth-most in the PCL, and led all Cardinals minor leaguers.
In 80 games this season, Wisdom is hitting a career-high .298 (84-for-282) with 18 doubles, one triple, 12 home runs, and 50 RBI. Earlier this season, Wisdom posted a 16-game hitting streak, the best mark of his career, and tied for the fifth-longest streak in Memphis history. In that span, he hit .424 (25-for-59) with four doubles, a triple, four home runs, 14 RBI, and six walks.
