Home Run Derby 2026: Drawing up a dream field, featuring Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and more
We are less than a month away from the most delightful, awe-inspiring, low-stakes, good-natured event on the baseball calendar: the Home Run Derby.
This year, MLB's smorgasbord of big flies will take place July 13 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, home to the 2026 All-Star festivities. Unfortunately, last year's dinger champ, Cal Raleigh, likely won't be around to defend his title, as the Mariners' catcher has endured an injury-riddled first half.
As of this moment, none of the eight Derby contenders has been announced, so let's take this opportunity to craft ourselves a dream field. A good Derby needs diversity: righties and lefties, moon shots and laser beams, heroes and heels, youngsters and geezers, innocence and experience. Something for everybody, everybody for somebody.
To be clear, the following octet is an unrealistic, pie-in-the-sky hope. Some of these sluggers will forgo participation due to injury, fear of injury or, in Shohei Ohtani's case, the pursuit of a Cy Young.
But let's at least dream about the world we want to live in.
Kyle Schwarber, Phillies, left-handed
Bryce Harper, Phillies, left-handed
We can group the hometown heroes together. Both Schwarber and Harper have put together All-Star-caliber first halves, and both should end up as reserves for the Midsummer Classic. If that comes to fruition, it'll be difficult — near impossible — to envision either of the two biggest Phillies, two lads who have built their legends around the dinger, sitting out the Derby.
That said, it would be rare to have two Derby contenders competing in their home ballpark. That hasn't happened since Justin Bour and Giancarlo Stanton showed out in the 2017 edition in Miami. But Harper and Schwarber have matched up in the Derby once before. When Harper won the thing at Nationals Park in 2018, he barely edged out Schwarber in the finals. A showdown between these two longtime teammates in front of a roaring Philadelphia crowd would make for magnificent television.
Nick Kurtz, Athletics, left-handed
There's something beautiful about a guy nicknamed The Big Amish having an over-abundance of power. Prior to Drake Baldwin's blast on Tuesday, Kurtz, a childhood Phillies fan from nearby Lancaster, owned the single longest homer in MLB in each of the past two seasons: a 471-foot shot last weekend and a preposterous, 493-foot blast in September.
Barring injury, that prodigious juice should be on display in July. Kurtz, who currently ranks fourth among AL first basemen in All-Star voting, has blossomed into one of the game's most entertaining sluggers. Even if he doesn't get voted in, he's a near-lock to be added as a sub and thus is an absolutely perfect Derby candidate.
Mike Trout, Angels, right-handed
Trout — the future Hall of Famer, three-time MVP and soon-to-be 12-time All Star — has never competed in the Derby. That's like LeBron James never doing the dunk contest or the Phillie Phanatic never doing the hot dog eating contest.
Of course, given Trout's lengthy injury history, it's more likely that we'll see him in the Kentucky Derby than the Home Run Derby. But Trout, a die-hard Eagles fan with a soft hoagie-mouth accent who turns 35 in August, will never have a more compelling opportunity.
His 2026 season has been one of rejuvenation, of turning back time, of feeling young again. He's playing center field every day, he's staying healthy, he's putting up amazing numbers for a bad Angels team. What better way to celebrate, to honor this new lease on his baseball life than by hammering batting practice fastballs into the South Philly sky?
Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers, left-handed
There's no chance. Zero shot. Not in a million years or for $700 million. Besides, he's a pitcher anyway.
It's hard to believe now, but Ohtani competed in the Derby once upon a time, putting on quite a show at Coors Field in 2021. The then-Angel clocked 28 homers but was ousted by fellow generationally wealthy slugger Juan Soto in the first round.
Given all that's on Ohtani's plate — hitting, pitching, Funyons — it's hard to imagine the two-way dynamo risking the biscuit to hit some taters. It's even harder to imagine Dave Roberts, Andrew Friedman and Dodgers ownership giving him the green light.
Hope, though, it gets us out of bed in the morning.
Munetaka Murakami, White Sox, left-handed
Last winter, Murakami's free agency produced a much smaller contract figure than anticipated, as talent evaluators held serious doubts about the Japanese slugger's ability to hit big-league pitching. The White Sox scooped him up on a relative bargain, and so far, so very, very good. He has smoked 20 homers in just 57 games.
Murakami is currently on the injured list due to a hamstring issue, making his All-Star Game and Derby participation both thornier propositions than they might have been. Even if he's off the shelf before the break, the thrilling, first-place Chicago White Sox might ask Murakami to take it easy. It'll be hard for MLB to leave him out, though, if he's healthy.
Junior Caminero, Rays, right-handed
If we can't have Big Dumper, let's at least book the guy he beat in last year's finals. Caminero's performance last summer was a delight, epitomizing what this glorious event, at its best, can be: a showcase, a starmaker, a platform for exciting, young sluggers to announce themselves in front of a national audience.
That's exactly what happened with the suave, exuberant Rays third baseman. Caminero put up quite a fight in the final, ripping 15 homers to nearly chase down Raleigh's total of 18. He deserves another bite at the apple.
Pete Alonso, Orioles, right-handed
Every great Derby has a villain. Considering the context, nobody would play that role better than Alonso. Even though the longtime Met left the NL East last winter, his name still makes many a Philadelphian's skin crawl. His introduction at a Citizens Bank Park Derby would surely elicit a warm, thorough hailstorm of boos from the welcoming crowd. Sadly, though, Alonso lags behind in a crowded field of AL first basemen, leaving his presence at the Midsummer Classic in serious doubt.
Alonso, who in 2021 became just the second hitter to win consecutive Derbies, sat out last year's event for the first time in his career. It's unclear whether Pete still identifies as The Derby Guy. Perhaps 2024 was his final hurrah. Let's hope not; he needs just one more win to tie Ken Griffey Jr. for the most all time.
Sure, the intense seriousness with which Alonso approaches the proceedings is somewhat corny, strong meme fodder. But it's also phenomenal theater. What is the Derby if not theater? This stage needs its greatest actor, its most committed thespian.
Come on, Pete, give the people of Philly what they want.
