Home runs have always had a home in Atlanta. And on Monday night, eight of baseball’s brightest stars will try to etch their names in the longball lore of Georgia’s capital as they participate in the 2025 Home Run Derby.
The festivities won’t be solely about the eight sluggers stepping into the box, though. This year’s Derby competitors will also be honouring the home run legacies of Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth as they swing for the fences at Truist Park.
With this year’s Derby and All-Star Game returning to Atlanta for the first time since 2000, MLB has planned a tribute recognizing Ruth’s 714 career homers — the last of which came as a Boston Brave — and Aaron’s historic 715th blast, which he hit in Atlanta.
The 2025 field features a new set of stars, with just one returning Derby veteran, who will put their best swings forward in hopes of claiming the redesigned Home Run Derby chain.
You’ll be able to watch the latest iteration of the annual slugfest Monday on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+, starting at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.
But before the dingers start to fly, here’s everything you need to know about the 2025 Home Run Derby.
MLB is running back the altered clock-based format it introduced in 2024.
In years past, hitters were placed in a bracket of head-to-head matchups across three rounds.
There will once again be three rounds to decide a winner, but this time around, there is no seeding in the opening round. All eight competitors will get their chance to swing for three minutes or 40 pitches — whichever comes first — and the top four will move on to the semifinals.
If there is a tie in Round 1, the hitter with the longest homer will advance.
This is where the knockout-style matchups come back into play, as the four remaining hitters will be reseeded based on how many big flies they launched in round one, with Nos. 1 and 4 and Nos. 2 and 3 paired to see who will advance to the final.
In Round 2 and the finals, players will have two minutes or 27 pitches, and home run totals don’t carry over from round to round.
At the end of each round, competitors will receive a bonus period where they can swing until making three outs. And if they hit a 425-foot blast during that extra time, they will receive a fourth bonus out.
As always, batters will get a 45-second timeout in each timed round.
Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners: 38 home runs
James Wood, Washington Nationals: 24 home runs
Junior Caminero, Tampa Bay Rays: 23 home runs
Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins: 21 home runs
Brent Rooker, Athletics: 20 home runs
Matt Olson, Atlanta Braves: 17 home runs
Jazz Chisholm Jr., New York Yankees: 17 home runs
Oneil Cruz, Pittsburgh Pirates: 16 home runs
The case for each competitor to win
Cal Raleigh: The switch-hitting backstop enters the Derby having broken the American League record for most home runs hit before the All-Star Break. No catcher has ever won the Home Run Derby, and Raleigh may be the position’s best shot at grabbing its first victory. Of course, he’s well on pace to break the all-time catcher record of 48 taters, but Raleigh checks all the boxes you want in a home run hitter and has the highest average launch angle of all the competitors, so he won’t have any trouble elevating as he looks to make history.
James Wood: With the potential to develop into one of MLB’s most prodigious power hitters — if he isn’t one already — the Home Run Derby is the perfect stage to showcase Wood’s strengths. His case to win Monday’s event lies in his ability to consistently deliver jaw-dropping homers. Eight of Wood’s 24 moonshots this season have travelled over 430 feet, the most of the eight-man field. Not only does the Nationals outfielder hit the ball far, but he also hits it hard, ranking among baseball’s leaders in average exit velocity, hard-hit rate, bat speed and barrel percentage.
Junior Caminero: Both Wood and Caminero are aiming to become the youngest Home Run Derby champion at 22 years old. Caminero, though, has already established himself as a showman, the type of player who will raise his game when the lights are brightest and enjoy the spectacle while at it. Only Oneil Cruz swings faster than Caminero among all qualified hitters in MLB, which helps the Rays third baseman spray balls out to all fields. A sneaky feature that may prove useful to Caminero — more of a line-drive home run hitter — is the shorter wall in left field at Truist Park.
Byron Buxton: The All-Star festivities will be a homecoming of sorts for Buxton, a native of Baxley, Ga., so competing in the Derby was something he called a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” mentioning how excited his son is to bring him a towel and Gatorade during his timeout. Amid a resurgent, healthy season for the Twins, Buxton has the kind of raw power that could shine in this kind of setting. His 479-foot shot in June was the second-longest home run in MLB this season, and he enters the break on a roll, going for a cycle on Saturday.
Brent Rooker: Quietly emerging as one of MLB’s biggest power threats with the Athletics, Rooker crossed the 30-homer threshold in each of the last two seasons and is well on his way to doing so again in 2025. Rooker is no stranger to competing in dinger contests, as he took part in the 2016 College Home Run Derby while at Mississippi State, blasting 29 taters in the event.
Matt Olson: Less than two seasons removed from cranking an MLB-best 54 homers, Olson will try to ride homefield advantage to a Derby win — something no player has done since Bryce Harper won in Washington seven years ago. Olson is the lone contestant in this year’s event to have previously competed in the big-league Home Run Derby, narrowly falling to Trey Mancini in the first round of the 2021 showcase at Coors Field. With the crowd on his side this time around, expect Olson to frequent “The Chop House” in right field as he puts his sweet lefty swing on display.
Jazz Chisholm Jr.: Although he may be the least prototypical home run hitter in the field, Chisholm has no lack of experience when it comes to swinging for the fences. The Yankees infielder has been a consistent presence at the Don’t Blink Home Run Derby in his native Bahamas. Unlike some of the hulking sluggers he’ll be competing against on Monday, though, Chisholm is a little smaller than your traditional Derby champ, so he’ll have to find a way to stave off fatigue to go on a run.
Oneil Cruz: Despite having the least amount of regular-season jacks of the eight, Cruz may just be the dark-horse pick to win the whole thing. Cruz has silly raw power; he recorded the hardest-hit ball of the Statcast Era earlier this season when he hit a 122.9 m.p.h. missile into the Allegheny River. He also has the highest average exit velocity (96.4 m.p.h.) in baseball and ranks third in hard-hit percentage (58 per cent). Even if he doesn’t come away with the chain, you can bet that Cruz will provide some of the most mesmerizing homers of the night.
