Giancarlo Stanton to participate in State Farm Home Run Derby

Giancarlo Stanton has not garnered a lot of votes for the All-Star game thus far. Maybe that is because he is still virtually unknown around baseball, or maybe it is because Marlins fans are too lazy to go and vote their players in?  If it is the ladder, you can still make a difference and vote Stanton, as well as Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, and Omar Infante into the Mid-Summer classic.

Currently, Omar Infante is the only Marlins positional player that has earned enough votes to be among the leaders at his position. That is a very pathetic showing from Marlins fans. Here is a look at the voting, as of yesterday.

Even without the fan voting, Stanton has a decent shot of making the team. It is very unlikely that Stanton’s peers and coaches around baseball will ignore his talents, like the fans have thus far. Though, if they choose to ignore him as well, we can still see him in the home run derby.

Stanton will have a chance to put his power on national display in the Home Run Derby in Kansas City on July 9. Hopefully the rest of the fans of the MLB take note, as going forward, Stanton should be a perennial starter in the game.

“We’re in there,” Stanton confirmed to Marlins beat writers before taking part in B.P today.

Stanton was invited to participate by Los Angeles Dodgers superstar, Matt Kemp, who has been put in charge of choosing the National League’s four-man team. Andre Ethier, Kemp’s teammate, will also be participating.

Marlins third base coach, who regularly throws batting practice to Stanton, is liking the chances of Stanton coming out on top.

"“I love his chances. This guy has the best chance to win the Home Run Derby because he can mishit the ball and it’s going to go over the fence. Everybody’s waiting to see this kid on that kind of stage. Everybody’s talking about it. I’m waiting for it. He’ll play to the crowd, the oohs and ahhs. He’ll get it going. It’ll be fun.”"

Joe Espada would like to throw to Stanton in the home run derby, which is a regular routine for players to bring their own coaches to throw to them in the derby. Stanton has not asked Espada as of yet.

Stanton is set to become the fifth Marlin in club history to take part in the event. Gary Sheffield (1996), Miguel Cabrera (2006), Dan Uggla (2008) and Hanley Ramirez (2010) have all taken part in the most exciting part of All-Star weekend. Hanley had the most success of the previous four, as he finished as runner-up to David Ortiz.

Stanton came into Wednesday afternoon’s game tied for third in home runs, trailing co-leaders Ryan Braun and Carlos Beltran by three a piece. Stanton has often been the Marlins lone bright spot in 2012, thus far.