MILWAUKEE (AP) Maybe the Home Run Derby doesn’t have to be limited to All-Star weekend.

The Milwaukee Brewers had Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and several other former players competing in an alumni home run derby that followed a game with the Miami Marlins last month. The promotion helped draw a sellout crowd of 41,944 fans, with nearly all of them sticking around to watch the postgame event.

Other clubs noticed, too.

“I thought it was a great idea and applaud them,” Arizona Diamondbacks president and CEO Derrick Hall said. “I believe all of us will be considering something similar.”

Brewers manager Pat Murphy is among those already has been conjuring up ways to expand on this idea.

“I think it just opens the door,” Murphy said. “Can you imagine the Brewers versus the Cubs home run derby - their three legends versus legends of ours. You know what I mean? Can you imagine that happening around the league?”

The Brewers’ home run derby occurred 11 days after Seattle’s Cal Raleigh won Major League Baseball’s Home Run Derby and 10 days after the All-Star Game was decided on a swing-off. With the game tied 6-6 after nine innings, three batters from each league took three swings and Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber homered three times to give the NL a 4-3 victory.

Brewers president of business operations Rick Schlesinger said a half-dozen MLB teams reached out after their alumni home run derby to get information on how well it had worked.

Milwaukee’s promotion was part of a 25th-anniversary celebration of American Family Field. Keon Broxton, who played for the Brewers from 2016-18, won the event and recreated Fielder’s most famous home-run celebration by standing tall at home while the teammates surrounding him fell back like a collection of bowling pins.

“It was awesome,” Broxton said afterward.

Milwaukee wasn’t the first team to do this kind of promotion. The Houston Astros staged their own alumni home run derby events in 2018 and 2019. The Atlanta Braves had an alumni softball home run derby last year.

The format represents a different way to welcome back former players rather than having the traditional Old Timers’ Day games from yesteryear. The New York Yankees are holding their first Old Timers’ Day game since 2019 on Aug. 9, and the New York Mets are having an alumni game Sept. 13.

But the Brewers’ event last weekend generated plenty of national attention, particularly when highlights aired showing how the stands stayed packed throughout the event.

“The guys that were all here, we all said we’d be back for anything like that, whether it’s something like what Murph suggested or even keeping it in house and playing a couple-inning game ... maybe guys from 2005-10 against guys from 2010-15,” said Casey McGehee, who played for the Brewers from 2009-11 and participated in the home run derby. “I think there’s a lot of opportunity for some really cool stuff to come from it.”

Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said he didn't get a chance to watch the alumni derby that followed his team's game in Milwaukee, but he liked Murphy's idea about branching it out.

“A big part of the beauty of our sport is how you remember those who played before, the history of our game and had success for your organization or those who made impacts throughout the league,” McCullough said. “So anytime we get a chance to celebrate those who did meaningful things, I’m all for it."

The trick in putting together an alumni home-run derby is finding the right participants. They must be old enough to have finished playing but remain young enough to still manage to hit batting-practice pitches out of a major league stadium.

The Brewers didn’t put up makeshift fences in the outfield for this event to make home runs easier, and the former players’ swings weren’t leaving the ballpark as often as when they were in the big leagues.

McGehee believes future home run derby promotions could feature more power than what the ex-Brewers showcased last weekend. McGehee said he tried working on his swing before last week’s event, but family obligations got in the way.

If he gets another invitation, McGehee expects to be more prepared.

“I think knowing what we know now, the product would probably even get better because we saw how cool that was,” McGehee said. “I think people would be carving out pretty significant parts of their days to get themselves ready to roll.”

NEW YORK (AP) The first career save for Nic Enright was a particularly meaningful one.

Enright, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in late 2022 and is scheduled to complete his treatments later this year, allowed an unearned run in the 10th inning Monday night to close out the Cleveland Guardians’ 7-6 win over the New York Mets.

“He was almost crying on the field just now,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “If you read his story, it’s pretty inspirational.”

Cleveland selected Enright in the 20th round of the 2019 amateur draft out of Virginia Tech. He received his diagnosis Dec. 22, 2022 - 15 days after the Miami Marlins took him in the Rule 5 draft.

After four rounds of immunotherapy in early 2023, Enright made nine minor league rehab appearances for the Marlins before being designated for assignment and returning to the Guardians in late May.

He missed most of last season due to a right shoulder strain, but went 2-1 with a 1.06 ERA in 16 appearances with Triple-A Columbus.

The right-hander has one more round of cancer treatment scheduled for November.

“I made the decision when I was diagnosed in 2022 with Hodgkin lymphoma that I wasn’t going to let that define my life and dictate how I was going to go about my life,” Enright said. “It’s something where, for anyone else who is going through anything similar, (it shows) I haven’t just holed up in my house and felt sorry for myself this whole time.”

Enright made his major league debut May 25 and has a 2.01 ERA in 19 appearances for the Guardians, whose bullpen is in flux with All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase on paid leave as part of a sports gambling investigation.

Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith pitched the eighth and ninth innings Monday before Enright entered with a two-run lead. He gave up a two-out RBI single to Brett Baty before retiring Luis Torrens on a fly out to the warning track in right.

“I definitely held my breath as I saw Nolan (Jones) kind of keep running,” Enright said. “But I had faith. As he kind of got closer to the wall, I realized it was losing steam.”

Enright was showered with beer by teammates in the locker room.

“I was so happy, oh, I was going nuts in here,” Guardians starting pitcher Slade Cecconi said with a smile. “I was going absolutely berserk. He came in running up the stairs, smile on his face.”

Enright thanked his wife, his parents and the rest of his family for their support throughout an interview at his locker. He got the ball from the final out and plans to set aside his uniform and hat as well as a lineup card.

“Really, really cool,” Enright said. “These last couple of years, especially, I’ve gone through a lot of adversity and just everything that’s gone on. And so for me, it’s being able to reflect on those in these moments. I think that helps being able to slow the game down. Because it hasn’t exactly been a red-carpet rollout for my career trajectory.”

The trade deadline has come and gone which offers us plenty of opportunity as fantasy managers. There are plenty of new closers for those seeking saves and major role openings for exciting position players across the league. Opportunity abounds for them and in turn, us.

Whether you’re trying to hold onto a top spot, pushing the leader, desperately trying to play catch up, or positioning yourself for the playoffs, reinforcements and upside are vital this time of year.

Most waiver wires have been picked over though and it’s difficult to find impact players readily available in most leagues at this point in the season.

Fear not, because there are still a handful of available players that have the chance to be difference makers that help push us towards glory.

MLB Power Rankings: Brewers mash their way to the top, Red Sox surging in AL playoff race

The Brewers have scored more runs than any other team over the past 30 days.

• D.J. Short
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Here are three players that are under 40% rostered on Yahoo leagues that you should strongly consider adding.

If you want a larger list, Eric Samulski wrote his extended waiver wire piece on Sunday.

JoJo Romero, RP Cardinals

(25% Rostered on Yahoo)

We’re all scurrying for saves this time of year and last week’s trade deadline provided many more opportunities than usual to find some.

Many closers like Mason Miller, Ryan Helsley, David Bednar, and Camilo Doval were sent out of town. Specifically Helsley’s departure has opened the door for Romero to step in as the Cardinals’ closer.

A 28-year-old left-hander who relies on his changeup, sinker, and slider, Romero already has two saves since Helsley was sent to the Mets and has pitched the ninth inning in St. Louis’ last three wins. Him being their new closer seems cut and dry.

There was a bit of hesitation with him jumping into that role since he was the only lefty in the Cardinals’ bullpen, but they recently claimed Anthony Veneziano off waivers to fill that void as Romero has jumped into his new role.

The other thing working against Romero is simply his style. Again, he’s a lefty sinker-baller who throws from more of a three-quarter slot. That sinker sits around 94 mph and is much better at forcing ground balls than strikeouts. He does not exactly fit the classic closer archetype.

Yet, no one else in this bullpen really does either.

Riley O’Brien can get up near 100 mph, but loses the zone sometimes and also relies on a sinker. While Kyle Leahy has been a breakout reliever, he succeeds more on feel and with a deep pitch-mix than over-powering stuff. Those two along with Romero, Helsley, and Phil Maton – now a Texas Ranger – are the only relievers who’ve been in the high-leverage mix for this bullpen all season.

Romero may not be what we close our eyes and envision when we think about a closer, he’s the guy here and certainly effective enough to handle the job with three plus pitches. Also, this Cardinals team is still halfway decent and should be able to hang around .500 for the rest of the season, giving Romero the potential for plenty of save chances.

Besides him, a few other sneaky closers that could be flying under the radar are Sean Newcomb with the Athletics after they moved Jack Perkins into the rotation and Keegan Aiken, who saw consecutive ninth inning opportunities for the Orioles over the weekend. He converted one save and then took the loss after entering in a tie game the following day.

Francisco Alvarez, C Mets

(17% Rostered on Yahoo)

Back from the minor leagues after a disappointing and injury-riddled start to his season, Alvarez is finally beginning to heat up.

He has a .984 OPS through 10 games since being recalled with at least one hit in eight of those 10 and nearly the same number of walks as strikeouts. Most importantly, he’s hitting for power again with five extra-base hits during this stretch and tons of very hard contact.

Despite going just 1-for-4 on Monday, Alvarez had batted balls of 105.4 mph, 105.6 mph, 109.2 mph, and 112.5 mph. He became just the sixth different player in the league this season to have four batter balls hit harder than 105 mph in the same game and the first catcher to do so since Willson Contreras in 2023.

Along with the return of his prodigious power, he’s taken a much more patient approach lately.

Before being sent down, Alvarez had a 49.9% swing rate and a 29.9% chase rate. Both were a bit higher than league-average while his 77.5% zone-contact rate was worse than league-average. He wasn’t always swinging at the best pitches and then too often missing the good ones.

Lately, he’s drastically reduced his swing rate to 36.8% which has helped him chase far fewer pitches out of the strike zone. At the same time, his zone-contact rate has increased compared to earlier this season.

This approach may be too passive, but right now it’s working and will likely continue until pitchers decide to throw him strikes more consistently again.

Of all players with at least 100 plate appearances this season, Alvarez has seen the 14th-lowest rate of pitches in the zone. Mostly, because he was willing to chase them. Now, he’s getting himself in more hitters counts and doing significant damage when he gets there.

It’s easy to forget that he had surgery to remove a broken hamate bone during spring training that held him out for the first month of the season. That injury is known to sap power and it was already the fourth injury to his hand or wrist that’s forced him to the injured list as a major leaguer.

Also, it’s even easier to forget how young he still is at just 23 years old. Agustín Ramírez, Edgar Quero, and Alvarez are the only players 23 or younger to have caught at least 40 games so far this season. When Cal Raleigh was his age, he hadn’t even reached Triple-A yet.

The power potential alone makes him relevant in most leagues and there’s a chance he could be ready to rip off a serious hot streak through the end of the season.

Tyler Locklear, 1B Diamondbacks

(7% Rostered on Yahoo)

Locklear was the centerpiece of the Diamondbacks’ return for third baseman Eugenio Suárez as an MLB-ready, power-hitting first baseman.

The team announced that the 24-year-old Locklear would be their first baseman moving forward – filling the hole left by Josh Naylor, who they also traded to the Mariners – and he’s started there in every game since.

He’s destroyed the upper minors over the last two seasons with 37 home runs, 27 stolen bases, and a nearly .900 OPS over about 200 games split between Double-A and Triple-A over the last two seasons.

Of course, those counting stats should be taken with a grain of salt because Locklear spent 168 of those upper minors games with Tacoma in the Pacific Coast League. Known as a hitter’s haven, five of the 10 ballparks in the PCL have at least 3,000 feet of elevation so it’s as if Locklear played half of his road games in a run environment relatively comparable to Coors Field.

Still, his production was well clear of league average and he had the batted ball quality to match it. I want to shout out Prospect Savant for this amazing site they’ve created that delivers a Baseball Savant style player page with the public data available in both Low-A and Triple-A.

It’s an incredible tool and shows Locklear to be plus-plus in every major power metric, has a max exit velocity of 112.4 mph, and makes fine swing decisions. The profile should play at the major league level.

After going 0-for-8 in his first two games with the Diamondbacks, Locklear had two hits and stole a base on Sunday before launching his first home run of the season on Monday.

The clear path to playing time and likely ability to hit for power and chip in a handful of stolen bases makes Locklear a decent option for the rest of the season.

If something were to hold him back, it would be his struggles against high-velocity. About 10% – 164 of 1,635 total pitches – he saw at Triple-A were thrown 95 mph or harder. He swung at 79, and missed 26 for a 32.9% whiff rate. He will see a higher rate of 95+ mph heat like that in the majors, so keep an eye on how he responds to it.