Bradenton’s Ezra Mason to compete in MLB Jr. Home Run Derby in Miami

As the sun’s sweltering rays beamed off Bradenton resident Ezra Mason, he stayed poised in the right-handed batter’s box at Braden River Park.

Gripping his DeMarini Drop Five aluminum bat, Mason belts fly ball after fly ball off the pitching machine’s deliveries.

Some clear the fence, while others carom off the wall, which observers estimate is 300 feet away.

Smashing the ball like that is what’s needed this weekend.

Mason is participating in Major League Baseball’s Jr. Home Run Derby National Finals at Miami’s Marlins Park on Saturday to kick off the festivities leading up to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

“It’s very nerve-racking, but exciting at the same time,” Mason said.

The 14-year-old is set to become a freshman at Braden River High School this fall, but first he’ll experience hitting in a major league park.

To get to Miami, Mason needed to win local- and regional-level competitions. At the local level, the finals were timed at 30 seconds. Mason smacked three homers in that timeframe to win.

“If you get in a rhythm, then it’s not as nerve-racking as it sounds,” Mason said. “But if you’re trying to find it, then it’s pretty nerve-racking.”

At regionals in Jupiter, there were a couple adverse moments Mason needed to overcome. A competitor smashed four home runs to begin the event. He normally warms up with his grandfather Ricardo. Ricardo, though, suffers from vertigo, which is the sensation of feeling off-balance, and it came into focus at the regional competition.

“I could not get out of bed,” Ricardo said. “My world was spinning really bad.”

So Ezra gathered his gear, took the roughly 10-minute walk to the park and warmed up himself.

“His own spunk, his own equipment,” Ricardo said. “I thought that was great.”

Mason went out and belted six home runs to qualify for the national competition.

On his last practice before departing for Miami, he kept mashing balls to the power alleys and to dead-center field.

At Marlins Park, he’ll compete against seven other competitors in the 14-and-younger age group with a fence line in the 250-foot range.

“Right now, I’m thinking if I hit the ball well enough, I could put one over the Marlins field,” Ezra Mason said.

Last year, Mason reached the regional competition, but opted to play a travel ball tournament with his team, the Scorpions.

This year, he decided to see if he could win the entire home run derby.

Now, Mason is getting that chance.

“He said, ‘This year if I make it, I want to go,’” Ricardo said.

As part of earning a spot in the national finals, Mason gets to dabble in the All-Star Week festivities, which includes the MLB All-Star FanFest at the Miami Beach Convention Center (Friday-Tuesday), the Sirius XM All-Star Futures Game and All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game on Sunday and the T-Mobile Home Run Derby as well as the Gatorade All-Star Workout Day on Monday, the Miami Herald reported.

This story was originally published July 6, 2017 at 6:29 PM with the headline "Bradenton’s Ezra Mason to compete in MLB Jr. Home Run Derby in Miami."