Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton make Home Run Derby highly anticipated

The Home Run Derby Monday night in Miami is becoming reminiscent of a highly anticipated heavyweight bout — especially if the main event pairs Aaron Judge with defending Derby champion and hometown favorite Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins.

In the year of the home run, the Derby appears to be overshadowing Tuesday night’s All-Star Game.

It’s all about the tale of the tape measure when comparing the height of Judge (6-7) and Stanton (6-6), the mammoth home runs they have hit and the damage some have rendered.

A home run by Stanton broke the auxiliary scoreboard when Marlins Park opened in 2012. One of Judge’s shots in batting practice this season claimed a flat screen television in the outfield terrace. His 28th home run earlier this week dented a metal casement above a door behind the left-centerfield wall.

Stanton is a big man at 245 pounds — and Judge outweighs him by 37 pounds. “Stanton’s been larger than life, and this guy’s bigger than Stanton,’’ said Joe Frisaro, who covers the Marlins for MLB.com. “I think Stanton, deep down, there’s a little fire in him to say, ‘Hey, look, everyone is talking about the kid, but don’t forget me.’ ”

Stanton has been eying Judge from afar for a while.

“Earlier in the year, he bristled over Judge,’’ Frisaro said. “Part of that was Stanton was 20 years old when he broke in [2010] and the league wouldn’t allow him to have center stage. Wait your turn, that type of thing . . . It was like, ‘[Judge has] only been in the league a couple of weeks.’ [But] Stanton is impressed by power. He’s impressed by power hitters.’’

Homers by Stanton and Judge certainly have left an impression — sometimes literally.

Stanton is seeded first in the eight-player Derby and will face eighth-seeded Gary Sanchez, so a Sanchez-Judge Yankees matchup might be a long shot. The Stanton-Sanchez winner will face either the Royals’ Mike Moustakas or the Twins’ Miguel Sano. That winner will go to the final round.

Judge will oppose the Marlins’ Justin Bour and Dodgers rookie Cody Bellinger will meet the Rockies’ Charlie Blackmon in the first round.

Frisaro said Marlins Park has played more favorably to lefthanded hitters, so Moustakas, Blackmon, Bellinger and Bour could have an advantage.

Judge has been trying to downplay his appearance.

“I’m just going to take normal [batting practice], I’m not going to try to change anything,’’ Judge said Wednesday after hitting his major league-leading 29th homer, which tied him with Joe DiMaggio for the club record for a rookie — in half a season. “Nothing should change. I felt like my BPs, everything felt good, nice easy swings, not too hard, I’m going to drive them out to right-center and left. I’m not going to try and change anything.’’

But Judge’s Yankees teammates know what he wants to do.

“He’s going to go out there and he’s going to give the people what they want,’’ rookie outfielder Clint Frazier said. “It’s going to be his moment to show people how far he can hit a baseball.’’

Brett Gardner added, “We get excited to see just how far he hits them, how hard he can hit the baseball. Off the bat, you don’t know how far it’s going to go. It just keeps going.’’

As of Thursday night, Judge had recorded the four highest exit velocities this season as measured by Statcast, with No. 1 being 121.1 mph. He had five of the top six, six of the top eight and eight of the top 15. He also had hit the longest home run, a 495-footer.

The Home Run Derby pitchers for Judge and Stanton have been getting some hype, too. The Yankees had so many requests to speak with Danilo Valiente that they will hold a news conference of sorts with him Friday. Stanton wants to have former Marlins coach Pat Shine come back to help him defend his title.

The Derby also could bring a ratings bonanza for ESPN. The event peaked at 9.1 million viewers in 1998, and the anticipation for this year’s Home Run Derby on ESPN definitely is high, vice president of programming Julie Sobieski said in an email.

“It’s difficult to predict where this will rank among the most-watched Home Run Derby telecasts, but we are confident that this year’s event will be very popular,” she said.

Judge said he used to watch the Home Run Derby with his family. His favorite participant was Barry Bonds.

“It was just incredible,’’ he said. “I’ve never seen anything like that. It was must-see TV.’’

Did Judge ever think he’d be involved in it as a player?

“You dream about it,” he said. “You’re just a young kid dreaming about it, really.’’