Blue Jays Jose Bautista picks American League Home Run Derby team

Jul 1, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays designated hitter

(19) at bat against the Milwaukee Brewers at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports

By now, the All-Star Game Home Run Derby is old hat to Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista. After all, this will be Bautista’s third rodeo, and his second time as the captain of the American League squad.

Needless to say, he has some experience in knowing what does and does not work in the derby.

So of course, when Jose Bautista was named captain of the 2014 American League squad, there was a lot of speculation as to who he would name to the team and truth be told, it wasn’t an easy task. Some of the favorites seen as being added to the team either indicated they were not interested (Mike Trout and Robinson Cano) or were injured in the lead-up to the break (teammate Edwin Encarnacion).

However, as seen from Tuesday’s announcement of the 2014 Home Run Derby squads, Bautista managed to field a pretty competitive and interesting squad for this year’s competition. Of course, Bautista and his 17 home runs and his .218 ISO will be there, as will Troy Tulowitzki, Todd Frazier, Yasiel Puig, and Giancarlo Stanton for the National League.

Let’s take a look at who made Bautista’s cut for the American League Home Run Derby team.