Tonight’s home run derby sees new faces and young stars facing off.
Tonight marks the first main event of All-Star Weekend, as the Home Run Derby goes live at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. There are no Detroit Tigers on tap this year, despite the dynamic duo of Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson each ranking in the top-5 in home runs fro the American League.
However, the Derby is composed entirely of first-timers. This includes young, upcoming superstars like James Wood, Oneil Cruz, Junior Caminero and Jazz Chisholm Jr, as well as established power bats in their prime, such as Brent Rooker, Matt Olson, Byron Buxton and, of course, the current MLB home run champion, Cal Raleigh.
The format is similar to recent years, with players having a limited amount of time or number of pitches to hit as many home runs as possible. In the first round, that’s 3 minutes or 40 pitches; in the second and third, that’s 2 minutes or 27 pitches.
What’s new, though, is that the first round is round robin style, rather than knockout, and the top four advance into the semis. At this point, things return to a head-to-head style. There are time bonuses for hitting the ball over 425 feet, too, giving hitters extra incentive to swing from the heels. Batters also get one timeout per round.
Viewers can expect to see Statcast throughout the broadcast, giving exit velocities, distances, and all sorts of metrics to liven up the competition. Feel free to follow along here, make predictions, and enjoy one of the highlights of All-Star Weekend!