Justin Bour participating in the Home Run Derby is still a big win

The Miami Marlins fans had the chance to get Justin Bour into the All-Star Game. They failed, but Bour will still be participating in the Home Run Derby.

It would have been nice to have three Miami Marlins elected to the All-Star Game this season. No doubt about it. But Justin Bour doesn’t have the popularity that the eventual winner Justin Turner has. As such, #VoteBour came up short in its quest to get Bour into the game.

That’s alright, though. Bour’s 19 home runs were still enough to get him into All-Star weekends most exciting event. In many ways, this worked out great for Bour. Now he’ll get a significant amount of time in front of the camera with the opportunity to further his Big Bour Brand.

Bour won’t log any time at first base in the ASG. But if he can knock off Aaron Judge in the first round of the derby, that would do even better.

In fact, it could help him start to get a jump start on next years All-Star Game with an impressive showing. Let’s be honest: Justin Bour isn’t a household name. Outside of those in Miami, he is relatively unknown. He can make serious headway towards changing that on Monday, July 10th.

The ideal outcome for Miami Marlins fans would of course be a Giancarlo Stanton vs. Justin Bour final. That would mean that Bour had knocked off Judge earlier in the contest, and continued to run roughshod through the competition from there.

The bracket has obviously been seeded to help coax a Stanton vs. Judge final. I can think of nothing better than JB playing spoiler to the party.

ASG was always a pipe dream for Bour

Not because he isn’t deserving, because he is. But the two National League firstbasmen who were selected are also deserving. Both Joey Votto and Paul Goldschmidt are hitting for a higher average and have more RBI’s. Votto has more home runs, while Bour and Goldschmidt are tied at 19.

You can make the argument that Votto should have been pegged to participate in the home run derby instead of Bour. Same with Goldschmidt. It’s alright to be upset that Justin Bour’s tremendous first half wasn’t rewarded, but all things within context.

He could very easily, and justifiably been left out of the home run derby as well.

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But he wasn’t! And let’s all be grateful for that. Justin Bour has had a monster of a first half; particularly impressive considering the slow start he got off to. While the team struggled throughout the month of May, Bour was a one-man wrecking crew.

On Monday, he’ll get a chance to show off all that power at Marlins Park in front of a packed house and national audience. If people walk away with his name on their lips, he might just find himself ahead of the pack when ASG voting rolls around next season.