Seattle’s Cal Raleigh won his first All-Star Home Run Derby after leading the big leagues in long balls going into the break, defeating Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero 18-15 in the final round on Monday night.
The Mariners slugger, nicknamed Big Dumper, advanced from the first round on a tiebreaker by less than an inch over the Athletics’ Brent Rooker, then won his semi-final 19-13 over Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz, whose 513ft first-round drive over Truist Park’s right-center field seats was the longest of the night.
Hitting second in the final round, the 22-year-old Caminero closed within three dingers, took three pitches and hit a liner to left field.
Raleigh is the first switch-hitter and first catcher to win the title. He had reached the All-Star break with a major league-leading 38 home runs. He became the second Mariners player to take the title after three-time winner Ken Griffey Jr.
Raleigh was pitched to by his father, Todd, former coach of Tennessee and Western Carolina. His younger brother Todd Raleigh Jr did the catching.
Just the second Derby switch-hitter after Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman in 2023, Raleigh hit his first eight left-handed, took a timeout, then hit seven right-handed. Going back to lefty, he then hit two more in the bonus round and stayed lefty for the semi-finals and the final. Caminero beat Minnesota’s Byron Buxton 8-7 in the other semi-final. Atlanta’s Matt Olson, Washington’s James Wood, the New York Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Jr and Rooker were eliminated in the first round.
Cruz and Caminero each hit 21 long balls and Buxton had 20 in the opening round. Raleigh and Rooker had 17 apiece, but Raleigh advanced on the tiebreaker of their longest homer, 470.61ft to 470.53. Cruz’s long drive was the hardest-hit at 118 mph.
The longest derby homer since Statcast started tracking in 2016 was 520ft by Juan Soto in the mile-high air of Denver’s Coors Field in 2021.
Wood hit 16 homers, including a 486ft shot and one that landed on the roof of the Chop House behind the right-field wall. Olson, disappointing his hometown fans, did not go deep on his first nine swings and finished with 15, He also was eliminated in the first round in 2021. Chisholm hit just three homers, the fewest since the timer format started in 2015.
Raleigh won $1m as well as the title. Caminero nearly doubled his salary of $764,100 by taking home $500,000 as runner-up.
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