Will Gorman represent the Cards in the 2023 Home Run Derby?

This story was excerpted from John Denton’s Cardinals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Not only will Cardinals star slugger Nolan Gorman compete in the T-Mobile Home Run Derby if asked to participate, but those who know of his past success in such events and his history of hitting tape-measure shots think he has a good chance of walking away as the champion.

“I have no doubt that he could win that event,” said Matthew Liberatore, one of Gorman’s closest friends since childhood who proudly wore a 'Nolan Gorman' graphic-design T-shirt on Sunday. “Nolan’s got the swing for it and no doubt plenty of pop.”

Added 6-foot-4, 280-pound slugger Luken Baker: “I mean, it’s pretty unbelievable the power Nolan has. When he gets ahold of a ball, it’s pretty fun to watch. I think he’d probably go out and win [the Home Run Derby].”

Not much has gone right this season for the slumping Cardinals, but the blossoming of the 23-year-old Gorman has certainly been a bright spot. He’s already topped the 14 home runs he hit as a rookie, launching 15 long balls 60 games. Through Sunday, Gorman’s 46 RBIs had him just three off the NL lead, behind Pete Alonso’s 49.

Considering the Cardinals’ starting-pitching and relief struggles this season, Gorman might be the favorite to be the team’s representative in the MLB All-Star Game. Whether or not he’s joined by superstar cornerstones Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado is likely up to the fan vote.

If Gorman is in Seattle in early July for the 2023 MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard, the powerful 6-foot-1, 219-pound slugger would be a natural to also compete in the Home Run Derby.

“I feel like it would be a cool thing to do and a good experience,” Gorman told MLB.com. “I feel like if you are presented the opportunity to do it for the first time, you’ve probably got to do it at least once. But we’ll see what happens.”

Gorman, after all, has a very impressive history in Home Run Derbies in MLB stadiums.

Back in 2017, when he was still just a junior at Phoenix’s Sandra Day O’Connor High School, Gorman hit a 459-foot blast, winning the High School Home Run Derby at Miami’s Marlins Park before 50,000 fans. A few weeks later, he smashed a home run off the videoboard in right field at Wrigley Field in the semifinal round, and he later won the Under Armor All-American Game Home Run Derby in walk-off fashion by smashing two long balls in the final 30 seconds of the competition.

“At Wrigley, Nolan was hitting them one after another. It seemed like [with] every swing he was hitting balls halfway up the bleachers,” recalled Liberatore, a fellow All-American that year. “I was always trying to be the first person to run out there and tackle him or congratulate him, because he’s so good. It’s always a surreal moment for him to be able to show off his tools in that way.”

A few weeks after that Wrigley win, Gorman put on another show for the dozens of MLB scouts on hand at the Area Code Games Home Run Derby at Long Beach State University, outdueling current Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas and six others. The only home run derby he didn’t win that year was the Perfect Game All-American Classic at San Diego’s Petco Park, but he still turned on a 96 mph fastball in the actual game for a two-run homer.

Then, there was that derby in which Gorman -- the No. 19 pick of the 2018 MLB Draft by the Cardinals -- competed during his first pro season in '19, when he was an Appalachian League All-Star. Well, that one still doesn’t sit well with him at all.

“It was in the [Single-A] All-Star Game, and I don’t even want to talk about that one,” Gorman said while shaking his head. “I got knocked out in the first round, because they brought some parent out, or maybe he was a high school coach, to throw BP. He was like, ‘Nah, I’m good. I don’t need any warmup throws.’

“I was the first one to hit and he was all over the place, throwing balls in the dirt and everywhere. It was timed and I was taking all these pitches and I didn’t even get a good at-bat off the guy.”