ATLANTA — Seattle’s Cal Raleigh clinched his inaugural All-Star Home Run Derby victory, overtaking Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero 18-15 in the final round on Monday night, after entering the break leading the major leagues in home runs.
The breakout star for the Mariners, also known as Big Dumper, moved past the initial round via a tiebreaker that was decided by less than an inch against the Athletics’ Brent Rooker. He then triumphed in the semifinals with a score of 19-13 over Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz, whose initial round saw a 513-foot hit over Truist Park’s right-center field, marking it as the night’s longest.
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 became the first switch-hitter and catcher to claim the title, having collected a major league-leading 38 home runs by the All-Star break. He joins Ken Griffey Jr., a three-time winner, as the second Mariners player to earn this honor.
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 ley 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 semifinals and the final.
Caminero beat Minnesota’s Byron Buxton 8-7 in the other semifinal.
Atlanta’s Matt Olson, Washington’s James Wood, the New York Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. and the Athletics’ Brent Rooker were eliminated in the first round of the annual power show.
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, 470.61 feet 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 520 feet by Juan Soto in the mile-high air of Denver’s Coors Field in 2021. Last year, the longest drive at Arlington, Texas, was 473 feet by Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna.
Wood hit 16 homers, including a 486-foot 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.
