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Bobby Bradley lost a home run derby, which means it was obviously rigged

Obviously.

By Matt Lyons
Jean Mac Ramos

Why do we have fake arguments with ourselves in the shower? Why do we grab hot plates out of the microwave when we know they are going to be really hot? Why do we watch Game of Thrones when we know the characters we care most about are going to die? Why were a bunch of baseball prospects hitting baseballs off of a retired aircraft carrier?

There are a lot of questions that go unanswered in our existence, but none are a bigger mystery than: How the hell did Bobby Bradley lose a home run derby?

Cleveland Indians first base prospect Bobby Bradley is known for one thing: Hitting balls really hard, really far. At only 19 years old, Bradley led the entire Indians organization with 27 home runs for the Class-A Lake County Captains last season. This year he is in a tie with Carlos Santana and Mike Napoli for the organizational lead with 15.

So, naturally, Bradley -- who now plays for the High-A Lynchburg Hillcats in the Carolina League -- and his power stroke were invited to the Carolina League's Midway Classic, a home run derby that takes place atop the retired USS Midway stationed outside of San Diego, California. The rules of the Midway Classic are simple -- each contestant has 10 swings per round to hit as many home runs as they can, as well as a five-swing tiebreaker round if necessary.

Bradley, with his High-A-leading 15 home runs, took part in the contest along with fellow Indians prospect and Hillcats teammate Yu-Cheng Chang.

And he lost.

As you can see in the above tweet, where Bobby Bradley's totals obviously should have read (10) for each round, someone mistakenly wrote that he only hit six home runs in the first round, and five in the second. This clerical error led to him losing in the semi-finals to Baltimore Orioles prospect Aderlin Rodriguez.

Instead of Bradley rightfully winning his first home run derby, renowned NASCAR driver and part-time Seattle Mariners prospect Kyle Petty took home honors from the derby. Oh well, there's always the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby in a few years.

Obvious minor league home run derby fixing aside, Bradley and Chang are two of six Hillcats players who will represent the team in the Carolina League All-Star game later today. Others include outfield Greg Allen, catcher Daniel Salters, and starting pitchers Julian Merryweather and Justus Sheffield. The Hillcats head into the All-Star break with the Carolina League's best record at 45-25.

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