Milwaukee Brewers slugger Christian Yelich has no concerns about his swing heading into the All-Star Home Run Derby, so it makes sense that he's confident everything will be fine after the showcase.
"Basically, Home Run Derby is batting practice," Yelich told reporters Thursday. "It's just trying to hit home runs with every swing. I'm not worried in the slightest about a swing change or it ruining my swing. Anybody that's educated in the manner understands it's going to be just fine.
"It's batting practice. Each round is four minutes. How much damage can you do to your swing in four minutes? It's 12 total minutes if you go all the way."
Yelich, the 2018 National League MVP, leads the majors with 31 home runs this season. He is the No. 1 seed for the Home Run Derby and will face Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the first round of Monday night's event at Progressive Field in Cleveland.
The other first-round matchups are Pete Alonso vs. Carlos Santana, Josh Bell vs. Ronald Acuna Jr., and Alex Bregman vs. Joc Pederson.
The winner will get $1 million of $2.5 million in prize money. The losing finalist will collect $500,000, and the six other participants will earn $150,000 apiece. The player with the longest home run will get an extra $100,000.
"Whether the second half goes good or bad for me, [participating in the Home Run Derby] will have no bearing on it," Yelich said. "If this was such a dangerous thing to do for your performance, guys wouldn't do it."
Brewers manager Craig Counsell said the perception that the Derby can hurt your swing is just "a myth," and Yelich pointed to 2018 Derby winner Bryce Harper to prove his point.
"[Harper] had a better swing in the second half than he did in the first half," Yelich said. "... It's a fun event. I'm going to have fun. It's something for the fans to enjoy. They all really like it. I'm going to go out and have a good time. You obviously want to go out and perform and do well and put on a good show. We'll see how it goes. It'll be a good time."