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Prince takes HR crown at Kauffman (AUDIO)

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Detroit Tigers Prince Fielder hoists the winners trophy of the Home Run Derby at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City on July 9, 2012. Fielder won the final round with 12 home runs. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

Prince Fielder put on a hitting clinic in the finals of the 2012 Home Run Derby by blasting 12 homers to beat out Toronto’s Jose Bautista to complete the Show-Me-State sweep. Fielder, who also won in St. Louis in 2009, finished the night with 28 homers total. Fielder barely made it out of the first round, finishing with just five homers, but thanks to an injured Matt Kemp (1) and Robinson Cano being shutout, Fielder skirted into the second round.

Fielder joins Ken Griffey Jr. as the only two players to win the Home Run Derby more than once.

AUDIO Prince Fielder talks about winning the HR Derby (3:00)

Cardinals outfielder and Kauffman Stadium favorite Carlos Beltran opened up the 2012 Home Run Derby with seven.   Beltran blasted one over 450 feet into the water and managed five more to just pass Jose Bautista with 12, but Beltran was knocked out when Mark Trumbo finished with 13.

AUDIO Beltran on his HR Derby experience (:50)

Royals fans go crazy over Ca”no” homers in the Derby (VIDEO)

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Royals fans were upset Billy Butler was not on the American League roster for the Home Run Derby. I heard Robinson Cano, the AL captain, explain at an earlier press conference that he had to turn in his selections prior to knowing if Butler would be on the All-Star roster.

That didn’t stop the fans from letting Cano hear it everytime he stepped up to the plate. When the Crown Vision screen showed Butler, the fans went crazy. Cano was trying to laugh it off, being a good sport.

In the end, chalk up a win for Royal fans over the Yankees after Cano went O-fer in the first round.

Prince and Bautista battle in HR Derby Finals

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Detroit Tigers Prince Fielder swings hitting a home run during the opening round of the Home Run Derby at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City on July 9, 2012. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

Prince Fielder grabbed the lead by hitting 11 homers in the second round for a total of 16. Six of Fielder’s homers landed in the fountains at The K. Carlos Beltran blasted one over 450 feet into the water as well and managed five more to just pass Jose Bautista with 12, but Beltran was knocked out when Mark Trumbo finished with 13. You couldn’t expect Bautista to get shut out in the second round, but it was close. He managed just two homers and got into a swing off with Trumbo. Each hitter got an additional five swings. Trumbo got on the board with his final swing. Bautista homered on his first two pitches and landed himself in the finals.

Both sluggers go back to zero for the finals. Earlier in the day, I made predictions and had Fielder and Bautista in the finals. I nailed three of the final four with Beltran, but I whiffed bad on my Cano pick.

Beltran advances to the 2nd round of HR Derby

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St. Louis Cardinals Carlos Beltran swings hitting a home run during the opening round of the Home Run Derby at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City on July 9, 2012. Beltran hit seven homers in that round. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

Cardinals outfielder and Kauffman Stadium favorite Carlos Beltran opened up the 2012 Home Run Derby with seven. Toronto’s Jose Bautista had five with nine outs and launched six in a row, with none of them less than 420 feet to take the early lead with 11. Mark Trumbo hit a “Trumbomb” sending one 475 feet. He tied Beltran with seven. Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies and Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates finished with four. Prince Fielder hit three of his five into the fountains to move into the top four. NL captain Matt Kemp hit just one homer, and with the crowd chanting for “Billy Butler,” in response to last year’s champ Robinson Cano not selecting the hometown hero for the Derby, Cano was shutout.  After the first round, here are the totals.

Bautista—11

Beltran—7

Trumbo—7

Fielder—5

Predictions for HR Derby

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The Home Run Derby is Monday night and the American League roster looks stacked, while the NL roster features a guy who is set to come off the DL and a 180 pound outfielder. The American League lineup will feature last year’s champ Robinson Cano of the Yankees, Prince Fielder, who won is 2008 in St. Louis, Jose Bautista, who leads the majors with 27 homers from Toronto and Mark Trumbo of the Angels.

Carlos Beltran will help represent the National League squad with his 20 home runs, which is tops in the league. Dodgers star Matt Kemp, who is set to come off the DL after the break, will take swings along with Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies and Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates.

The top four move onto the second round. Here are my predictions.

Semifinals: Robinson Cano, Prince Fielder, Jose Bautista and Carlos Beltran. Cano and Fielder are veterans in this event. Bautista will learn from his first appearance last year and Beltran will be pumped up by the Kansas City crowd as they cheer on their former star.

Kemp’s timing will be off, and McCutchen (5’10, 180 pounds) will be lucky to finish with two homers. First timer Trumbo will press too hard. Gonzalez hit his last homer on June 15th and only five of his 17 homers have come on the road away from the thin air of Coors Field in Denver.

Finals: Fielder and Bautista. I think Cano was a surprise last year. These two guys are pure power hitters. Fielder paces himself better and beats out Bautista 5-2 in the finals.