ATLANTA—Major League Baseball is currently struggling to fill rosters for the 2010 Home Run Derby. Famed power hitters Josh Hamilton, Ryan Howard and Albert Pujols, among many others, have pulled out of the game out of fear that it will mess with their swings. Teams are even intervening and forbidding their players from entering, as the New York Yankees did with second baseman Robinson Cano. With less than a week before the event, league officials have had to get creative among the remaining All-Star pool as a result. In a last-ditch effort to fill the minimum, in fact, an invitation was even extended to the unlikeliest of players, Atlanta Braves utility infielder Omar Infante.

Infante, who was one of the most puzzling All-Star picks in baseball history, has hit just one home run this season and 38 in a nine-year career. Desperate times call for desperate measures, though, and M.L.B. now must explore all avenues. However, Infante told reporters Wednesday that he will only enter the home run-hitting contest if the league allows him to hit from second base. “Obviously, I would have little chance of winning against some of those guys, even if Howard is not in it," Infante said. "But I have pride, man, and will only go if they level the playing field by letting me swing from the infield dirt.” Bud Selig, never one to adopt change, was initially opposed to the idea but is surprisingly softening his stance as players continue to drop out of the event. “Omar could really put on a show from second, so we will see if everything else does not work out,” Selig said.