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Harper won the event in 2018 in Washington and also finished as the runner-up in 2013, but no other player in Nats history has ever participated until now. Alonso, who won the 2019 Derby, comes in as the defending champ. At age 22, Soto is the youngest Derby participant this year. And if you saw Gallo drop jaws with his batting practice session prior to the 2014 Futures Game, then you can imagine what he's capable of in this kind of format.
The participants were seeded and paired off based on their home run totals as of last Tuesday. Ties were broken by awarding the higher seed to the player with a higher home run total in 2020. Trey Mancini did not play in 2020, however, so the tie between him and Pete Alonso was broken using 2019 home run totals.
Sunday, July 11
Mancini spent six months last season fighting through a biweekly chemotherapy program. He worked his way back with the Baltimore Orioles, earned his way to the Derby with a 16-homer first half and almost won the whole thing despite facing the second-longest odds to do so. He wanted to honor his longtime friend Ricky Palmer, who died of brain cancer in October -- and he wanted to send a message to cancer survivors. • Soto succeeded Bryce Harper as the Nationals’ superstar, and now he will try to succeed him as a Derby champion.
Pete Alonso looks to add a second Derby title to his trophy cabinet, while Mancini continues his incredible comeback story. "I think it can set an example that you can go back to your normal life, even if you have this thing hanging over you sometimes," Mancini said. ET on both ESPN and ESPN2 with "Baseball Tonight" and "Baseball Tonight, Statcast Edition," respectively. ET on the two channels, with ESPN carrying the traditional broadcast and ESPN2 providing the "Statcast Edition."
MLB All-Star Home Run Derby: Results, bracket and highlights as stars swung for the fences in Denver
Will this be the night he adds Home Run Derby champion to his impressive collection of 2021 achievements? If the final pre-Derby BP blast he hit to the deep, deep reaches of Coors Field is any indication, it just might. For a second there, it looked like Shohei Ohtani was going to put up a goose egg in the first round against Juan Soto, but he recovered just in time to tie him. It took a final swing-off, in which Soto hit three towering moon shots and Ohtani hit a grounder in his first swing, for the whole thing to finally be resolved.
Less than two years after he was diagnosed with colon cancer, Mancini is back to mashing baseballs in Baltimore this season. The 29-year-old has hit at least 24 home runs in each of his first three full-time seasons. There’s nothing quite like watching a home run swing, when a batter really gets ahold of one and sends the ball into orbit. That only happens a few times per game if you’re lucky, though. • Ohtani isn’t just hitting homers -- he’s destroying baseballs. His 16 homers of 110-plus mph, including six of 115-plus, lead MLB, as do his 17 of 420 feet or longer.
'Everybody's jaw dropped': Shohei Ohtani's teammates share their best stories about his legendary power1yAlden Gonzalez
Gallo is a high-strikeout, low-average hitter who seems perfect for this type of competition. He has two seasons with at least 40 home runs, and he’s on pace for another in 2021 for the lowly Rangers. First, no Royals player has won the Derby, with Mike Moustakas the team’s only other entrant in the past 30 years. Second, no catcher has won the Derby, with Ivan Rodriguez in 2005 the last to even finish second. • Mancini has gone for a high degree of difficulty, with nine of his 16 homers (56%) flying to the middle third of the field, one of the highest rates in MLB. • Olson has been a home run machine since the A’s called him up for good on Aug. 8, 2017.
The Derby returns this year, and aside from Alonso, the remaining seven participants are all first-timers. The event is taking place at Coors Field on Monday, July 12, with the first batter getting started just after 8 p.m. As with 2019, the prize pool for the contestants totals $2.5 million, with the winner receiving $1 million of that total. The 2021 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby was a home run hitting contest between eight batters from Major League Baseball . The derby was held on July 12, 2021, at Coors Field in Denver, CO, the site of the 2021 MLB All-Star Game. He led off against Royals catcher Salvador Perez with 35 homers in the opening round.
He also broke the record for most home runs hit in the first round with 35, surpassing Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s total of 29 from 2019. With the win, Alonso become the fourth player in history to win multiple derbies and the third to win back-to-back derbies (the 2020 Home Run Derby was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The Home Run Derby format has remained unchanged since 2015.
Sporting News tracked live updates of the 2021 Home Run Derby throughout the night. Here’s to a hopefully exciting couple of hours of fun Monday night in Denver with a ball that will almost certainly be extra juiced in a park that is already begging for home runs. The 27-year-old first baseman has been a leading force for the A’s in the first half. He has just one season of 30 or more home runs in his career, but he’ll likely add a second in 2021. • Alonso now has a chance to join Ken Griffey Jr. (1994, ‘98-99), Yoenis Céspedes ( ) and Prince Fielder as the only multiple-time Derby champions.
Not only is the Japanese lefty leading the league in home runs, he’s also a starting pitcher with a sub-four ERA. The left-handed batter has pulled about two-thirds of his career homers. • Even with the pandemic-shortened 2020 and a couple of injuries, Soto is the 18th player in AL or NL history to hit at least 80 home runs by the end of his age-22 season. If Soto can hit 10 more after the break, he will be just the 11th to reach 90 by that point. • Whatever you say about Ohtani’s 2021, it’s not sufficient. He’s the 11th player to hit as many as 33 home runs before the All-Star break, but of course the first to do so while also pitching regularly .
He did it by launching 57 total homers , including 20 in a semifinal victory over Ronald Acuña Jr. and 23 in the final showdown with Guerrero. Alonso earned bonus time in all three rounds by hitting at least three homers 440-plus feet, but he never actually needed it -- walking off his opponent before the end of regulation. • Alonso set the rookie home run record with 53 in 2019 and leads the Majors with 86 total dingers since the beginning of that season. He also ranks first in that span in homers hit 110-plus mph , and he's tied for first in homers hit 440-plus feet . • Gallo hits some of the most extreme dingers in the game.
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