The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net    

BAHAMIAN baseball professional Chavez Young became the third consecutive Bahamian to win the “Home Run King” crown of the Don’t Blink Home Run Derby in Paradise at Montagu Beach on Saturday.

The “Greatest Show on the Sand” certainly lived up to its hype as the Freeport native had to dig deep to beat out former champions Joshua Palacios and BJ Murray to secure the title in the final round.

Young was thrilled to keep the home run derby king trophy here at home.

“It feels good to be inked in history, especially to be bringing it back to Freeport. Shout out to Breyias and shoutout to BJ. It is a blessing to be here and I am grateful for the opportunity to do this in front of my home country. It is always a blessing to do it in front of your country. That is the best experience ever,” he said. 

He shared what his mindset was in the final round of batting. “It was just to have fun and always have fun and to treat it like batting practice. I was fortunate to go to winter ball and still have my swing going. I felt good. Shoutout to Lucius and Todd for having this beautiful event for me to participate in and also have my teammates from the states like Joshua Palcios perform in it,” he said.

The 27-year-old outfielder went out with a bang in the final round of competition, launching 12 homers into the waters on Montague Beach. 

Despite coming up short in the individual competition, Team World got the advantage on Team Bahamas 52-43 in team competition.

Prior to this year’s competition, Bahamian minor leaguers BJ Murray and Breyias Dean emerged victorious at the Don’t Blink Home Run Derby in Paradise event in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

Dean was the youngest Bahamian to leave with the crown at just 18-years-old while Murray was the first Bahamian to ever hoist the conch shell trophy. 

Event organisers Todd Isaacs Jr and Lucius Fox were pleased to see yet another Bahamian claim the Home Run Derby King title.

“It feels amazing. The crown is staying here in The Bahamas and that is what we spoke about before the event. Our very own Chavez ‘Hollywood’ Young, who I grew up playing with, kept the crown in The Bahamas and we are super excited and super proud of him,” Fox said.

The Don’t Blink Home Run Derby in Paradise festivities kicked off with a kids camp, followed by a celebrity softball game before climaxing with the main event over the weekend. 

Fox reflected on how amazing it feels to witness the continued growth of the baseball extravaganza in its seventh year of existence.

“I remember the very first year when that first ball got put in the water, the excitement was there. Since that year, the excitement has never left and has only grown. This is year seven now and we are looking forward to year eight. Thank you to the Bahamian people for coming out and showing their support at the kids camp, the celebrity softball game and the home run derby. We cannot do it without you all but we do it for you all,” he said.

Isaacs Jr echoed these exact sentiments and promised to deliver an even more innovative and exciting experience next year.

“We just have such a great team. Seven years is a blessing and we just want to continue to give God all the glory…We just want to make baseball something that is a career that kids can choose and that they can see positively and see us in them. We are gonna do this for the rest of my life and it is gonna outlive Lucius and I and we want to take this all around the world. Cheers to the first seven, we cannot wait for the next seven and we are just gonna find innovative ways to bring a new experience every year,” he said.