During the Home Run Derby, Teoscar Hernández of the Los Angeles Dodgers found support from a familiar face when he needed to calm down: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., last year’s champion and former teammate with the Toronto Blue Jays from 2017 to 2022.
Guerrero surprised Hernández by wearing a Blue Jays jersey with Hernández’s name and number 37 while watching the competition. Hernández appreciated the gesture, especially as Guerrero offered encouragement between rounds, aiming to help him stay focused, which Hernández felt was effective in the final round.
Hernández clinched the Home Run Derby title by narrowly defeating local favorite Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals, with a score of 14-13 in the last round on Monday night.
The 31-year-old Hernández smashed a total of 49 home runs across three rounds, covering nearly four miles, and became the first Dodgers player to win the derby out of the eleven who have attempted it. Even though Guerrero didn’t participate this year, he shared insights and advice with Hernández during breaks.
Reflecting on his victory, Hernández expressed confidence in himself, regardless of who his opponent was perceived to be. Witt, who needed one more home run to tie with only one out left, hit a long ball to deep left-center field in Globe Life Field but fell just short of clearing the wall.
Despite hitting 11 home runs each in their final two-minute round, Hernández and Witt needed bonus swings to determine the winner. Witt missed his first two bonus attempts but managed to hit two homers consecutively, including a 457-foot blast, which earned him another swing but ultimately fell short of catching up.
Witt, selected as the second overall pick by the Royals in 2019 from Colleyville Heritage High School, located about 15 miles north of the Rangers’ stadium, made his derby debut this year. He previously won the high school home run title in Washington in 2018, making him the only player to compete in both contests.
The 24-year-old Witt totaled 50 homers, covering a distance of 3.8 miles. In the semifinals, he defeated Cleveland’s José Ramírez 17-12. Hernández narrowly beat Philadelphia’s Alec Bohm 16-15 after a tiebreaker where each had three swings; Hernández hit two homers, and Bohm hit one.
Ramírez and Bohm each hit 21 homers in the opening round, while Witt began with 20 and Hernández with 19. Pete Alonso of the New York Mets, aiming for a record third derby win like Ken Griffey Jr., fell short with only 12 homers in the first round.
Unlike last year’s single-elimination format, the top four home run leaders from the first round advanced to the semifinals, followed by a bracket-style competition.
Alonso managed a 428-foot homer on his first swing but struggled to maintain momentum. Other contestants eliminated after the first round included local favorite Adolis García of Texas, Marcell Ozuna of Atlanta, and Gunnar Henderson of Baltimore.
Alonso, who has hit 207 homers across five derby appearances, reflected on his performance, saying, “It’s disappointing, but I see it as a blessing and enjoyed being out there. Ultimately, it just wasn’t my day.”
Ozuna hit the longest homer of the night, measuring 473 feet. The stadium’s longest homers during games were 472 feet, achieved by Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels in 2022 and Oakland’s Seth Brown in 2021.
Bohm, among a record eight Phillies selected as All-Stars, has hit the fewest homers this season among the eight derby participants, totaling just 11. In the first round, he aimed to hit as many balls as possible to left field and succeeded, pulling all 21 of his homers in that direction.
At the start of the derby, the temperature outside the ballpark still felt like 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), but the stadium’s retractable roof was closed.
This stadium opened in 2020; however, during the 1995 All-Star Game hosted by the Rangers across the street in their old stadium, which lacked a roof, the derby was held in sweltering mid-afternoon heat when it was not yet a prime-time event.
In 1995, Frank Thomas won the derby using a different format, hitting 15 homers over three rounds. Albert Belle set a record with 16 homers overall, but Thomas narrowly defeated him 3-2 in the final round.
