Category: Baseball

The MLB Home Run Derby lineup is set and the St. Louis Cardinals finally have a representative again. Jordan Walker will be competing with 7 others in the competition that will be streaming live on Netflix starting at 6pm central time. Here’s the lineup:

Kyle Schwarber (Phillies)
Ben Rice (Yankees)
Junior Caminero (Rays)
Jordan Walker (Cardinals)
Willson Contreras (Red Sox)
Bryce Harper (Phillies)
Munetaka Murakami (White Sox)
Jac Caglianone (Royals)

According to MLB.com, here are the rules for this year’s competition:

It is no longer time based

Each competitor gets 20 swings in the 1st round, 15 in the 2nd round and 15 in the 3rd round

Every swing counts no matter if it’s a home run or not

If a player hits a home run on his final swing, he can continue until he fails to hit a home run

Top 4 home run totals in the 1st round advance to semi-finals where competitors will be ranked based on 1st round totals

Ties in the 1st round will be decided by home run distance – Ties in semi-finals and finals decided by 3-swing swing-off

Congratulations to the two-time West Coast Conference Player of the Year, redshirt senior third baseman Mikey Bell, who was picked by the San Francisco Giants with the No. 568 pick in the 19th round of the 2026 MLB Draft.

The former Gonzaga Bulldog previously announced that he’s transferring to the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC. As long as he doesn’t sign the contract with San Francisco, Bell can play his final season of college eligibility.

The 6-2, 200-pound slugger hit .369 with 24 doubles, 20 home runs, 92 runs batted in, and 51 walks during his time in Spokane, Washington. Bell finished with a .448 on-base percentage, .610 slugging percentage, and 1.057 on-base plus slugging percentage across 107 games.

The Fresno, California, native started his college career on the junior college level at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, California. The Slipper Still Fits spoke with the 22-year-old before the start of the 2026 season, and what a treat it was.

Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on X @a_cravalho

If the Dodgers picked up Tarik Skubal, would that be overkill?

Logan Webb, the longtime ace of the San Francisco Giants, laughed.

“I don’t think they need him,” Webb said, “but you never count those guys out on getting anybody in the league.”

The Dodgers could make a mockery of the National League West by trading for Skubal, who won the last two American League Cy Young awards for the Detroit Tigers.

Then again, you could argue the Dodgers already are making a mockery of the NL West. They lead the division by 11½ games, more than double the lead in any other division.

Read more:How Dodgers' Justin Wrobleski went from demotion to All-Star in less than two years

So, on the day before the All-Star Game, I posed the overkill question to stars from the other teams in the NL West.

“Would I consider it overkill? It’s a crazy game,” said outfielder Corbin Carroll of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the team that swept the Dodgers over the weekend at Dodger Stadium.

“I don’t think, going into the weekend, that too many people would have expected that. The nature of this game is about you can never be good enough, and you always have to look to keep improving. I think I would just view it in that same light.”

The Dodgers are not about winning the NL West this season. From owner Mark Walter to president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, from manager Dave Roberts to franchise icon Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers last fall loudly and proudly declared their intent to three-peat and become the first NL team ever to win three consecutive World Series championships.

Their postseason rotation could be so overloaded that All-Star Justin Wrobleski, whose 2.69 ERA compares favorably to NL All-Star starter Cristopher Sanchez (2.62), could find himself in the bullpen behind starters Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ohtani, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow.

On the other hand, Ohtani missed his last start for treatment of a troublesome left knee, and neither Snell nor Glasnow has pitched since May. The Dodgers might not be entirely sure of projecting their October health and effectiveness by the Aug. 3 trade deadline, and the chance to three-peat might never come again.

The Dodgers have the prospects and the money to acquire Skubal, should the Tigers trade him. The Dodgers may or may not have the need, but they surely have the motivation.

“I wouldn’t blame them,” Colorado Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman said. “They’re trying to win another World Series.”

Said San Diego Padres closer Mason Miller: “He’d help any team he went to. They’ve got a strong rotation, a lot of guys that are going to get healthy and help them out, but I don’t necessarily consider it overkill. Anybody, on any given night.”

If the Dodgers acquired Skubal, the fans of those rival NL West teams would explode in frustration, perhaps even in rage, at the back-to-back champions. Ohtani for $700 million, Kyle Tucker for $60 million per year, and now the rich kids would get Skubal, too?

The owners are trying to channel that level of fan frustration and anger in their push for a salary cap. They say they’re trying to help teams like, say, the Rockies and Pittsburgh Pirates compete more effectively against the Dodgers.

The Pirates have not posted a winning record in eight years and have not appeared in the playoffs for 11 years. Surely a salary cap would help them, right?

“I don’t think there’s any need for a salary cap,” Pirates ace Paul Skenes said. “I don’t know if there’s a perfect answer, but I do know the salary cap would not be a fix-all for parity.”

Read more:Shaikin: Inside the Shohei Ohtani Economy driving a wild auction for his worn cleats

Parity is in the eye of the beholder, or more accurately in the definition of the beholder. The owners like to note that no small-market team has won the World Series since the Kansas City Royals in 2015.

However, in a league that owners insist demands immediate reform, 23 of the 30 teams are within four games of a playoff spot.

As one of eight players on the executive committee of the players’ union, Skenes is involved in the current collective bargaining negotiations. Salary cap or not, would it be overkill if the Dodgers picked up Skubal?

“They’re trying to win, aren’t they?” Skenes said. “You can’t ever blame a team for going out and doing everything possible to win.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

PHILADELPHIA - Luis Arraez is fully prepared to get dealt by the time the Aug. 3 trade deadline comes around. But he'd also like potential suitors to know any deal involving him comes with an expectation: He's now a second baseman, and doesn't expect that to change after joining a new team.

Arraez, the three-time batting champion who's been the lone bright spot on a 41-55 San Francisco Giants team, has remade himself into a Gold Glove-caliber second baseman under the tutelage of infield guru Ron Washington, enhancing his value significantly as he once again tests the free agent market this winter.

He's once again elite with the bat, hitting .330, but now he's no longer dinged for being a first baseman or designated hitter with little power. And Arraez would prefer to maintain his rediscovered identity at second.

"It's going to be second base," Arraez said when asked about potential destinations and scenarios. "I don’t like to go back to first base. I prepared my mind, I prepared my body only to play second base."

The 2026 MLB Home Run Derby will take place on Monday night, with eight players set to compete for the title. There will be a new champion this year, as Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh, who has had a disappointing, injury-riddled season, will not defend his title. Among this year’s participants, the only former winner is the Phillies’ Bryce Harper, who won while with the Nationals at his home park in 2018.

The derby takes place at 7 p.m. CT on Netflix, with the order of players and format listed below.

Batting Order

1. Willson Contreras, Red Sox (20 HRs) — Pitched to by Red Sox interim bench coach José David Flores
2. Jordan Walker, Cardinals (22 HRs) — Pitched to by Cardinals bullpen catcher Kleininger Teran
3. Jac Caglianone, Royals (15 HRs) — Pitched to by dad, Jeff Caglianone
4. Munetaka Murakami, White Sox (20 HRs) — Pitched to by White Sox coach Luis Sierra
5. Ben Rice, Yankees (29 HRs) — Pitched to by dad, Dan Rice
6. Junior Caminero, Rays (28 HRs) — Pitched to by Rays major league field coordinator Tomas Francisco
7. Kyle Schwarber, Phillies (32 HRs) — Pitched to by Phillies assistant hitting coach Rafael Pena
8. Bryce Harper, Phillies (20 HRs) — Pitched to by Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel

Format

Since 2015, the Derby has been constrained by a timed clock. That has been eliminated in 2026.

Instead of trying to hit as many homers as possible during timed rounds, each of the eight Derby participants will start each round with a finite number of swings: 20 in Round 1, 15 in Round 2, and 15 again in the final round.

All swings count against a player’s swing allotment, whether it results in a homer or not. However, a player who homers on his final swing of a round can keep swinging until he doesn’t hit one out.

The players with the top four home run totals from the first round will advance to the semifinals, where they’ll be seeded based on their first-round homer totals. They will face off head-to-head (No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 2 vs. No. 3) to determine the two finalists.

Any ties in the first round will be broken by home run distance, with the player who hit the longest homer among the tied participants advancing. In the semifinals and finals, ties will be broken by three-swing swing-offs until a winner is determined.

Happy mashing!

As the lone player representing the Mets at the All-Star break this year, Juan Soto had no competition when it came to media availability and answered a myriad of questions ranging from who he’s most looking forward to seeing over the course of the event to why New York struggled so mightily during the first half of the season despite such high expectations.

To be clear, the Mets’ tumultuous season to date has nothing to do with Soto’s production as he has been the team’s MVP and was deservedly named an All-Star for the first time as a Met despite missing time early in the season with a calf injury.

An All-Star once again after missing out last season, Soto is excited to be back alongside the game’s best and to see players and even old teammates that he can talk to simply as friends as well as to pick their brains to get better himself.

“It feels great to be a part of another All-Star [team],” he said. “It’s always great to see so many good players, so many guys that have been putting in the work to be who they are right now. It’s really cool to see.”

With the spectacle taking place in Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park, Soto is getting a chance to rekindle his relationship with former teammates with the Washington Nationals in Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, now current Phillies.

The outfielder had nothing but good things to say about each of them, even if they are rivals of the Mets.

“I haven’t shared a locker room with [Harper] in a long time and Schwarber, all those guys,” Soto said. “I feel like we have such a great talent in that clubhouse, like you would love to be around them. I’m gonna try to pick their minds and see where they’re at.”

With Harper and Schwarber both participating in Monday’s Home Run Derby as the hometown heroes, Soto stopped short of picking either of them to win it and instead went with last year’s runner-up and fellow Dominican Junior Caminero.

As for who Soto is most looking forward to speaking with over the next couple of days, that’s Yordan Alvarez who is representing the Houston Astros in the opponent’s dugout.

“I will find him,” Soto said.

Despite the levity and distraction of the event this week, the issue of the Mets’ disappointing first half came up and Soto discussed what’s gone wrong in New York this summer while also defending his teammates regardless of the team’s record and the standings.

“I’ve been trying my best to win games, to help my team,” he said. “It’s definitely not easy, I know how hard my team is working and I appreciate that they come in day in and day out. They never stop, they keep grinding, they try to find a way every day so nothing else I can ask for.

“I’ve been doing my best and we haven’t gotten to the spot that we want to be so it feels like a little bit of failure so I gotta keep going, I gotta keep getting better and I gotta try harder.”

After limping into the All-Star break following getting swept by the Boston Red Sox at Citi Field, the Mets at least will have some time to clear their heads before getting back on the field in the second half in an attempt to finish strong.

Soto thinks the time off will do everybody some good.

“I feel like everybody needs a couple days off after a tough stretch,” he said. “To get the days off and kinda like start over I think is gonna be good for the guys.”

The biggest bright spots for New York has been the breakout of rookies Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing who have played alongside Soto in the outfield for the majority of the season. Benge, of course, broke camp with the team as the starting right fielder while Ewing was called up in early May to inject some energy into the team and they both have played extremely well.

Not only is their development a reason for the fans to keep watching, it’s been fun for Soto, still only 27 years old, to play with them and watch them continue to get better. And even though Soto has years of experience, he still is and feels young at heart.

“For me I’ve just been having fun,” Soto said. “I always call myself the forever rookie. I always try to handle myself the right way, but definitely enjoy the moment, don’t try to be hard on anybody.

“That’s one of the things that I take every time, the transition, guys looking over and looking for advice or anything. I’m always gonna be there for them, but at the end of the day I always feel like one of them, I always try to have fun.”

With the emergence of the two rookie outfielders giving the Mets an outfield that appears to be one they can trust for the long term, as well as a staff filled with rookie starting pitchers that have shown elite stuff, there’s reason to believe the team can quickly turn things around, if not this season than seasons to come.

In fact, Soto had a message to the fans who have endured a lot during this disappointing season.

“Keep believing. We’re gonna turn things around,” he said. “We have a lot of talent, we have a lot of players that can be elite so don’t give up on them, we’re gonna turn this back [around].”

Editor's note: Follow the 2026 Home Run Derby live

Eight players are set to face off in the 2026 MLB Home Run Derby at 8 p.m. ET on July 13 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Two Phillies players will participate: Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper. The other six are Jac Caglianone of the Kansas City Royals, Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays, Willson Contreras of the Boston Red Sox, Ben Rice of the New York Yankees, Jordan Walker of the St. Louis Cardinals and Munetaka Murakami of the Chicago White Sox.

Unsurprisingly, that list includes some of baseball’s best home run hitters this season. Schwarber leads MLB with 32 homers, while Rice is third with 29 and Caminero is tied for fourth with 28. Four of the remaining five have gone long at least 20 times.

Track all the regular-season home runs belted so far in 2026 by the eight players below. This graphic has their homers laid over Citizens Bank Park, providing a glimpse of how they might fare in the Derby itself:

If you can't see the graphic above, click here to view.

DIG DEEPER: Watch every home run at Citizens Bank Park in 2026

Citizens Bank Park has seen 121 home runs across 46 Phillies home games in 2026. Statcast rates the park as the fifth friendliest for home runs in MLB by its home run park factor calculation.

Among this year’s participants, Harper won the Home Run Derby in 2018 as a member of the Washington Nationals. Caminero finished runner-up last year to Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, while Schwarber participated in the 2022 Derby, but lost to Albert Pujols in the first round.

This year’s Home Run Derby will consist of a three-round format. In the first round, players will have 20 swings to hit as many home runs as they can. The top four will advance to a head-to-head second round, and the two winners from that round will face off in the final. The semifinals and finals will have 15 swings, and players who homer on their final swing can continue until they don’t hit a homer.

Methodology note: Home run data from Baseball Savant. Home run locations are plotted over Citizens Bank Park using available Statcast hit-location data; homers without hit-location data are approximated using available distance data.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dinger or no dinger? How Derby sluggers' home runs stack up in Philly

It’s the All-Star break for Minor League Baseball too, but not before a hectic and happening weekend for the San Francisco Giants affiliates. Here’s everything you need to know about the action on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Link to the 2026 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)

All listed positions in the roundup are the position played in that particular game.

News

The biggest news over the weekend was, of course, the 2026 MLB Draft, which saw the Giants add 21 prospects (though they have some serious work to do to sign all 21). You can see all 21 selections here.

But there was more big news, as a trio of top prospects were promoted: center fielder Dakota Jordan (No. 5 CPL) and middle infielder Gavin Kilen (No. 7 CPL) were promoted from High-A Eugene to AA Richmond, while center fielder Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL) was promoted from Richmond to AAA Sacramento. Huge and tremendously exciting news! Jordan and Kilen celebrated the news by playing in the Futures Game on Saturday, where they each got 1 at-bat. Jordan doubled in his, while Kilen went 0-1.

In other exciting news, Low-A San Jose shortstop Lorenzo Meola (No. 23 CPL) won Player of the Week honors in the California League. But in less happy news, the Giants released AAA Sacramento LHP Juan Sánchez (No. 41 CPL).

AAA Sacramento (49-41)

Friday: Sacramento River Cats lost to the Salt Lake bees 12-5 [box score]
Saturday: Sacramento River Cats beat the Salt Lake Bees 9-2 [box score]
Sunday: Sacramento River Cats lost to the Salt Lake Bees 11-8 [box score]

Well, the River Cats limped into the All-Star break … they did so with a winning record, but they’re not playing their best baseball at the moment. The highlight over the weekend came from a pair of rehab appearances from catcher Daniel Susac, who hit 4-8 with a 3-run home run, a double, a walk, and a stolen base. Quite a performance!

Contrary to popular belief, Susac didn’t actually hit very well in AAA with the A’s last year, as he finished with a 94 wRC+ and a 26.8% strikeout rate. But in 8 rehab games with the River Cats, spanning 2 injuries, he’s rocking a 247 wRC+ and just a 6.1% strikeout rate. Tony Vitello revealed on Sunday that Susac is expected to rejoin the Giants when they return from the break on Friday, and hopefully he can carry his AAA momentum into the Majors, as he was really slumping at the time of his injury.

The other standout offensive weekend belonged to center fielder/right fielder Turner Hill, who hit 7-14 with 2 doubles, 2 stolen bases, and 0 strikeouts. I thought there was a chance the Giants would promote Hill when Victor Bericoto (No. 35 CPL) injured his oblique, but they opted to call up Grant McCray straight from his rehab instead. That’s probably sensible given the proximity to the All-Star break and a desire to not clog up another 40-man spot, but still … hopefully Hill gets his chance in the Jared Oliva/Jonah Cox role some day. The undrafted free agent will never be a blue chip prospect, and he is 27 already, but he also has an .886 OPS and a 135 wRC+ in 67 AAA games this year, with a minuscule 8.2% strikeout rate and 18 stolen bases in 20 attempts. He doesn’t hit the ball hard, but his contact skills are phenomenal: he’s 96th percentile in in-zone contact rate and 97th percentile in whiff rate.

Solid weekends for second baseman Nate Furman (No. 39 CPL) and first baseman Jake Holton. Furman went 4-14 with a double, a walk, 2 stolen bases, and a strikeout, while Holton hit 4-11 with a 2-run home run, a double, a walk, and a sacrifice fly. Furman has a .765 OPS and a 106 wRC+, while Holton now has a .708 OPS and a 95 wRC+. They are both in their AAA debut seasons.

It wasn’t a good weekend on the mound. The only good start came on Saturday, when LHP Matt Wilkinson pitched 4 solid frames, allowing just 1 hit (a single), 2 walks, and 1 unearned run, while striking out 4. It was Tugboat’s 5th start since getting promoted, and there’s been a lot of good (3.93 ERA, 10.3 strikeouts per 9) and some bad (4.88 FIP, 4.2 walks per 9). Personally, I’d like to see him ride out the year in AAA to get as much development as possible, but given that the Giants are likely to trade a handful of pitchers at the deadline — and seeing as how Wilkinson will be Rule 5 eligible this winter — I think we’ll probably see him in the Majors in the second half of the season.

Following Tugboat was LHP Joe Whitman (No. 26 CPL) who made his 3rd appearance since moving to Sacramento’s bullpen, and gave up 1 hit and 1 run in 1.2 innings, with 1 strikeout. It’s still not entirely clear why the Giants moved Whitman to the bullpen, but it certainly can’t be that they gave up on him as a starter (he’s a significantly better option than some of Sacramento’s rotation pieces right now, and was having a quality season). It could be that they’re gearing him up for an MLB debut (like Wilkinson, he’ll be Rule 5 eligible), but my guess is they’re just giving him a little mid-season break so he doesn’t get worn out, as he’s been quite a workhorse this year. Hopefully he’s back in the rotation soon.

The other starters were bad. On Friday, LHP Seth Lonsway allowed 8 baserunners (including 3 home runs) and 8 runs in 2.2 innings, raising his ERA to 6.75 and his FIP to 6.37. On Sunday they went for an opener, using recently-claimed RHP Eric Cerantola, who made his 2nd appearance with the organization. Cerantola faced 6 batters and walked 5 of them so … yeah.

RHP Ryan Walker also made his Sacramento return after getting optioned and it didn’t go well, as he gave up a home run, 3 walks, and 2 runs in an inning of work. Gotta think his spot on the 40-man roster is getting a little bit toasty.

Nice performances for RHP Marques Johnson and LHP Juan Sánchez (No. 41 CPL), though. Johnson pitched twice and struck out 5 batters in 2.2 shutout innings, with 2 hits and 1 walk, while Sánchez threw 2 scoreless frames with 2 hits and 3 strikeouts … and then was promptly released.

AA Richmond (53-32)

Friday: Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Altoona Curve 5-4 [box score]
Saturday: Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Altoona Curve 5-1 [box score]
Sunday: Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Altoona Curve 5-3 [box score]

Center fielder Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL) is leaving Richmond, and he’s doing so with a bang. The lefty’s final weekend as a Squirrel was yet another dynamic one, as he hit 6-15 with a solo home run, 3 doubles, and 3 strikeouts. It has been one dynamic game after another for Davidson ever since the calendar flipped to June … since the start of that month, he’s hit a staggering 43-138 with 13 home runs, 6 doubles, 16 walks, and 38 strikeouts.

Davidson, who turned 24 last week, departs AA with an .861 OPS, a 122 wRC+, and 14 stolen bases in 16 attempts. Given San Francisco’s outfield issues this year, and considering his upcoming Rule 5 eligibility (where he’ll be a slam dunk protection barring falling on his face in AAA), there’s certainly a path for the undrafted free agent to make an MLB debut this year. The sky is the limit for Davidson, who still has some swing-and-miss and pitch recognition issues to work out, but who really has every tool in the box. Can’t wait to watch him in AAA!

Richmond’s other star hitter is not joining Davidson in AAA — yet — but probably isn’t too far behind, and he had a decent weekend as well. That would, of course, be third baseman Parks Harber (No. 17 CPL), who hit 4-14 with a double, a walk, a stolen base, and 2 strikeouts. After a June swoon, Harber has rebounded brilliantly: in his last 14 games, the 24-year old slugger is 19-57 with 4 home runs, 5 doubles, 4 walks, and 11 strikeouts, bringing him up to an .879 OPS and a 131 wRC+.

Nice weekends for right fielder/center fielder Jean Carlos Sio (No. 44 CPL), shortstop Maui Ahuna (No. 33 CPL), and second baseman/left fielder Diego Velasquez (No. 31 CPL). Sio hit 3-12 with a home run, a double, and 2 strikeouts, giving the lefty a .775 OPS and a 97 wRC+ since getting promoted; Ahuna went 4-9 with a double, 2 walks, a hit by pitch, a strikeout, and a caught stealing, boosting the lefty’s OPS to .661 and his wRC+ to 71; and Velasquez hit 6-11 with a double, a walk, a stolen base, and 3 strikeouts, raising the switch-hitter’s OPS to .795 and his wRC+ to 117. Velasquez, who also has 18 stolen bases, played in the outfield for the first time in his career on Sunday. He’s been on absolute fire lately, hitting 17-37 with 4 extra-base hits, 6 walks, and just 5 strikeouts over his last 12 games.

LHPs Charlie McDaniel and Tyler Switalksi, who are quite new to AA and in an adjustment period, struggled in their respective starts on Friday and Saturday, but RHP Trystan Vrieling had another strong outing on Sunday, pitching 6 quality innings with just 1 hit allowed (a single), 2 walks, and 1 run. Vrieling, who struck out 4, struggled a bit to find the strike zone, as just 49 of his 85 pitches were strikes. But being hard to hit is an important skill, and one Vrieling has excelled at lately: in his last 3 starts, the 2022 3rd-rounder has given up just 9 hits (and 3 runs) in 17 innings.

Strikeouts and walks remain a bit of an issue for the 25-year old, who has a 4.04 ERA and a 5.43 FIP … he has just 8.1 strikeouts per 9 innings and 6.1 walks. But great to see him starting to put some of the pieces of the puzzle together.

Yet another dominant relief outing from RHP Christian Alvarado, who struck out a pair of batters in a perfect inning to end the first half of the season for Richmond. Alvarado’s numbers are almost unfathomably good since the Giants signed him to play affiliated ball for the first time in 7 years: in 6 appearances and 6 innings, he’s given up just 2 hits, 1 walk, and 0 runs, while striking out 13. The only question is how long the Giants will want to see him do this before testing him in AAA.

RHP Will Bednar (No. 24 CPL) has had a disappointing season, but Friday was a good game, as he threw 2 no-hit, no-run innings with 1 walk and 1 hit batter, while striking out 3. The former 1st-rounder’s strikeouts are down quite a bit this year as he repeats AA, from 14.9 to 11.7 per 9 innings, while his walks (6.4 per 9) remain an issue. He has a 4.24 ERA and a 4.53 FIP and, more critically, his fastball velocity isn’t what it was a year ago.

Also a great relief outing from RHP Ryan Vanderhei, who struck out 4 batters in 2 shutout innings, with a walk and a hit allowed. The 2023 10th-round pick has a 4.38 ERA and a 4.64 FIP in 10 relief appearances since getting promoted.

High-A Eugene (52-35)

Friday: Eugene Emeralds beat Spokane 9-4 [box score]
Saturday: Eugene Emeralds lost to Spokane 7-6 (10 innings) [box score]
Sunday: Eugene Emeralds beat Spokane 9-5 [box score]

If you think that Davidson had a nice going away party with Richmond, just wait until you see what center fielder Dakota Jordan (No. 5 CPL) did with Eugene! Jordan played his final High-A game on Friday, before departing for the Futures Game on Saturday, and then heading to Richmond after the break.

And how did he do in that final game? Thanks for asking! Just a casual 4-5 with 3 home runs and a double. If that’s not a “get me out of here I’m too good for this level” performance than I truly don’t know what is!

While questions about his swing-and-miss issue remain — he has a 27.6% strikeout rate and a 16.1% swinging strike rate on the year — it does seem time for Jordan to square off against better competition, as he had an .879 OPS and a 129 wRC+, while leading the Northwest League with 18 home runs. Jordan departs the Pacific Northwest on a serious heater: in his final 14 games with the Emeralds, he hit a jaw-dropping 23-55 with 9 home runs, 6 doubles, 2 walks, and, critically, just 7 strikeouts. His power has been at a whole new level lately, and it’s going to be so much fun watching him in the Eastern League.

A pair of Jordan’s teammates also had multiple home runs: right fielder Lisbel Diaz (No. 32 CPL) and first baseman Jakob Christian (No. 40 CPL). Diaz hit 3-12 with 2 home runs, 1 double, and 4 strikeouts, while Christian went 4-8 with a pair of dingers and a quartet of punchouts.

Diaz has been on a heater lately, with 8 home runs in his last 13 games (3 of them came while moonlighting in San Jose when he couldn’t travel with Eugene to Canada). Still, as I’ve written about a few times, Diaz’s season has been funny … despite his 17 home runs trailing only Davidson and Jordan in the farm system, the right-handed Cuban — who turns 21 in a few days — has just a .788 OPS and a 101 wRC+ with Eugene, which is partially the result of having a lowly 3.6% walk rate. Still and all, if you’re a young prospect who is going to hit at a league average clip, I’d much rather it be due to home runs than due to walks, especially since Diaz has just a 17.0% strikeout rate.

Speaking of strikeouts, Christian’s season remains a funny one, as he really only seems to do 3 things: strike out, draw walks, and get extra-base knocks. The 23-year old lefty, taken in the 5th round in 2023, has 199 plate appearances this year, and has struck out 68 times (34.2% rate), walked 23 times (11.6% rate), and registered 21 extra-base hits (.220 isolated slugging). The result is an .827 OPS and a 121 wRC+, but needless to say, the strikeouts need to come down for him to have any chance of success against better pitchers.

And finally, good weekends for the middle infielders, as shortstop Jhonny Level (No. 3 CPL) hit 5-12 with 2 doubles, 2 walks, a stolen base, and a strikeout, pushing his High-A OPS to .798 and his wRC+ to 113, while second baseman Zander Darby went 3-11 with a home run, a double, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts, moving his OPS to .744 and his wRC+ to exactly 100. Another infielder joined the home run party, as third baseman Walker Martin smashed a 3-run shot, but also hit just 2-12 with 7 strikeouts and his 20th error of the season.

Friday featured a great pitching performance, as RHP Niko Mazza showed out in his final start of the half, tossing 7 innings while allowing just 2 hits (including 1 home run), 1 walk, and 1 run, and striking out 6. What a showing!

Mazza, taken in the 8th round in 2024, has developed a hilarious reputation for ERA/FIP splits. In his debut last year, in Low-A, he sported a glorious 2.22 ERA with a 4.36 FIP. He’s back at it this year, as this start lowered his ERA to 2.50 … but with a 4.12 FIP. That FIP is high primarily because of his 5.1 walks per 9 innings, so very nice to see him issue just one free pass in 7 frames, while throwing 55 of 82 pitches for strikes. Just excellence all around. Mazza is also up to 10.6 strikeouts per 9 innings, after sitting at just 8.7 a year ago. Perhaps most impressive, however, is that he’s allowed only 44 hits in 72 innings.

As is probably evident from those stats, Mazza has some pretty exciting stuff, he just hasn’t fully harnessed it. He ended the half in style though: over his final 6 starts of the first half, the 24-year old pitched 32.1 innings and allowed just 19 hits, 10 walks, and 6 earned runs, with 35 strikeouts. Excited to see what he does in the second half.

LHP Luis De La Torre (No. 14 CPL) started on Sunday and had a game emblematic of his season: he struck out a whopping 9 batters in 5.1 innings while only allowing 3 hits, but also walked 4 and gave up 2 home runs and 4 total runs. That’s been the season for him: he’s only allowed 48 hits in 69.2 innings, and has struck out 93 … but 8 of those 48 hits have been home runs, and he’s issued a stunning 55 walks, leading to a 5.17 ERA and a 5.07 FIP. The magic is there … it just needs to be harnessed.

Not a very memorable weekend for the relievers, though RHP Cole Hillier struck out 3 in 1.1 scoreless frames, while giving up just 1 hit. A good bounceback performance after getting rocked in his previous outing.

Low-A San Jose (53-34)

Friday: San Jose Giants lost to the Visalia Rawhide 12-5 [box score]
Saturday: San Jose Giants lost to the Visalia Rawhide 2-1 [box score]
Sunday: San Jose Giants beat the Visalia Rawhide 12-5 [box score]

The Baby Giants saw their 10-game winning streak come to an end with a pair of losses, but bounced back to enter the break with a win. As has been the case for much of the year, San Jose showcased the long ball, with 4 different players leaving the yard. We’ll talk about that quartet, and then move to the pitchers.

Shortstop Lorenzo Meola (No. 23 CPL) hit 4-10 with a home run, a double, 4 walks, a hit by pitch, and 2 stolen bases, with 2 strikeouts. Last year’s 4th-round pick is up to a .787 OPS and a 96 wRC+, and seems to be relishing being the everyday shortstop with Level promoted (though we’ll see how long that lasts, given who is coming up behind him). He’s still striking out too much, but he’s showing good power, drawing a lot of walks, playing great defense, and has 11 stolen bases on the year.

First baseman Jerimiah Jenkins continued his power year, hitting just 3-13, but bopping both a home run and a double with a walk, albeit with 5 strikeouts. The 2024 14th-round pick has a .912 OPS, a 122 wRC+, and a .270 isolated slugging, a mark that ranks 4th out of the 90 Cal League hitters with at least 150 plate appearances this year. That’s pretty damn impressive, though the 30.8% strikeout rate remains quite concerning.

Corner outfielder Oliver Tejada, who was only recently promoted to A-ball, hit 6-12 with a 3-run home run, a double, a walk, a stolen base, and 5 strikeouts. The 19-year old has a .793 OPS and a 91 wRC+ through 10 games at the level, though he also has a 36.4% strikeout rate.

And finally, catcher Daniel Rogers went 3-9 with a home run, a double, a strikeout, and a caught stealing. After a fairly brutal 11-game stretch with High-A Eugene, Rogers has posted a .857 OPS and a 132 wRC+ in 13 games with San Jose.

Not a very exciting weekend on the mound. The best outing belonged to Saturday’s starter, LHP Ricardo Estrada, who pitched 6 strong innings while allowing just 2 hits, 1 walk, 1 hit batter, 2 runs, and 1 earned run, with 3 strikeouts. Estrada, a 24-year old, has a 3.92 ERA and a 5.64 FIP on the season, with fairly uninspiring strikeout and walk numbers. He’s been so much better since moving to the rotation, though, and in his last 7 games has pitched 37.1 innings and allowed just 23 hits, 12 walks, and 8 earned runs, with 32 strikeouts.

RHP Samir Chires, a 22-year old, made his 2nd appearance since getting promoted, and allowed just a hit in 2.2 shutout innings, though he didn’t strike anyone out. The Venezuelan has been excellent in a tiny sample since his promotion. Sadly the same can’t be said for RHP Johan Rodriguez, who made his Low-A debut on Sunday and faced 5 batters … and walked 4 of them (though he struck out the 5th).

Arizona Complex League (29-21)

Friday: ACL Giants lost to the ACL Angels 4-2 [box score]
Saturday: ACL Giants beat the ACL Rockies 13-9 [box score]

The big news in the ACL was that Low-A RHP Argenis Cayama (No. 13 CPL) made a rehab appearance. Cayama, who suffered a non-arm injury in late May, kicked off his rehab assignment on Friday with 1 inning of work, giving up 2 hits, a hit bitter, and a run, while striking out 2. Hopefully he’s back in San Jose’s rotation shortly after the All-Star break.

A pair of pitchers continued their rehab on Saturday, with High-A LHP Hayden Wynja allowing 2 hits and a walk in 1.2 scoreless innings, with 2 strikeouts, while AA RHP Logan Martin pitched 1.1 innings and allowed 2 hits and 1 run, with 3 strikeouts.

The best pitching performance belonged to RHP Melvin Pineda, who struck out all 3 batters he faced, while throwing 10 of 14 pitches for strikes. Pineda has some of the most extreme strikeout numbers (complimentary) and walk numbers (derogatory) that you’ll ever see. Across the ACL and Low-A, he’s faced 156 batters and only 59 of them have put the ball in play, as he’s issued a terrifying 28 walks and hit 7 batters, but struck out a staggering 62 … exactly 2 per inning. That number is even higher in the ACL, where the 22-year old has 18.9 strikeouts per 9 innings, albeit with 7.3 walks. If he can just stay in the strike zone…

RHP Kendry Castro, a 19-year old from the DR, made his stateside debut following the very rare international in-season promotion. It was a mixed-bag game, as he struck out 3 batters in 2 scoreless innings, with just 1 hit allowed, but he did walk 3 batters. Welcome to the states, Kendry!

Happy to report a nice weekend for designated hitter Rayner Arias (No. 38 CPL), who hit 2-7 with a 3-run home run, 2 hit by pitches, and 2 strikeouts. It’s been another very brutal season for the former top-10 prospect, who has just a .611 OPS and a 59 wRC+, with a lowly .176 batting average and a 31.7% strikeout rate. He still has so much talent, though, so hopefully he can put it all together.

First baseman Carlos Concepcion and catcher Santiago Camacho had fantastic Saturdays. Concepcion, a 20-year old from the DR, hit 3-4 with a home run and a walk, though he went 0-4 with a strikeout and an error on Friday. Camacho, a 19-year old from Venezuela, only played Saturday, and went 3-5 with a 2-run homer. Both players are hitting well below league average (.652 OPS, 57 wRC+ for Concepcion; .771 OPS, 86 wRC+ for Camacho), though the latter is showing some interesting flashes.

Dominican Summer League Black (15-14)

Friday: DSL Giants Black lost to the DSL Blue Jays Red 6-5 [box score]
Saturday: DSL Giants Black lost to the DSL Mets Orange 10-6 [box score]

A pair of hitters and a pair of pitchers to highlight. In the batter’s box, it was shortstop Keiberg Camacaro who had the best weekend, hitting 2-6 with a double, a walk, 2 hit by pitches, 2 stolen bases, and 2 strikeouts. The 19-year old right-handed hitter, who has had an inconsistent career, is having far and away his best season in his 4th pass through the DSL, posting a .990 OPS and a 144 wRC+, while lowering his strikeout rate to 14.4% (that’s more than 10 percentage points better than last year, and less than half of what it was his debut season). After stealing 22 bases in 112 games in his 1st 3 years, Camacaro already has swiped 15 bags this year, in just 17 attempts. The other nice day belonged to first baseman/catcher Alessandro Duran, who hit 2-3 with a double and a walk on Friday, though he didn’t play Saturday. It’s been a tough 4th season for the 21-year old, so nice to see him play well.

The pitching stars were RHPs Rainiel Duran and Brayan Cabello, a pair of 22-year olds. Duran struck out 3 batters in 2 shutout innings with a hit allowed, lowering his ERA to 6.08 and his FIP to 6.32 in his 2nd season. Cabello allowed a hit in 1.2 scoreless frames, with 3 strikeouts, dipping his ERA to 1.64 and his FIP to 4.25 in his 5th DSL campaign.

Dominican Summer League Orange (19-11)

Friday: DSL Giants Orange beat the DSL Red Sox Red 6-5 (7 innings) [box score]
Saturday: DSL Giants Orange beat the DSL Pirates Black 7-1 (7 innings) [box score]

The star in the batter’s box was first baseman Albert Jimenez, who hit 2-5 with a 3-run home run, 3 walks, and a strikeout. A right-handed hitter from the Dominican Republic, Jimenez has made huge strides this year, jumping to a 1.091 OPS and a 151 wRC+ in his 3rd DSL season, while striking out just 13.6% of the time. His 8 home runs this year are 1 off the lead in the DSL, a league that has seen nearly 900 players take at-bats. That’s impressive!

RHP Jhon Leon, a 22-year old, gave up a hit, a walk, and an unearned run in 1.2 innings, while recording all 5 outs by way of strikes. He has 21 strikeouts in 14.2 innings in his 3rd DSL season, but a lot of hits and walks have given him a 6.75 ERA and a 4.11 FIP. RHP Alexis Gallego, arguably the team’s top signing this year after Luis Hernández (No. 6 CPL) made his professional debut on Saturday, and the 17-year old from Mexico struck out 4 batters in 2 innings, while allowing 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 hit batter, and 1 unearned run. Welcome to the pros, Alexis!

Home run tracker

19 — Bo Davidson — [AA]
18 — Dakota Jordan x3 — [High-A]
17 — Lisbel Diaz x2 — [14 in High-A; 3 in Low-A]
13 — Jean Carlos Sio — [8 in AA; 4 in High-A; 1 in ACL]
13 — Jeremiah Jenkins — [Low-A]
11 — Walker Martin — [High-A]
9 — Lorenzo Meola — [Low-A]
8 — Jakob Christian x2 — [High-A]
8 — Albert Jimenez — [DSL]
7 — Zander Darby — [High-A]
6 — Jake Holton — [AAA]
4 — Daniel Rogers — [Low-A]
4 — Carlos Concepcion — [ACL]
3 — Daniel Susac — [AAA]
3 — Oliver Tejada — [2 in Low-A; 1 in ACL]
2 — Rayner Arias — [ACL]
2 — Santiago Camacho — [ACL]

Nate Isler was born in Charlottesville, Virginia but the family settled down in Milton, Georgia and the right-hander grew up there. He attended Cambridge High School and playing against fellow 2026 Mets draftee and fellow right-handed pitcher Luke McNeillie during Milton High School versus Cambridge High School rivalry games. A three-year letterwinner, he one-upped McNeillie, winning Region Pitcher of the Year in their shared senior year. There was very little buzz about his draft status over the course of his high school career, as his stuff generally was mediocre, but even if there had been, Isler may not have gone pro out of high school. The son of a Dartmouth alumnus, and an alumnus who played for the school’s baseball team, Isler was given a scholarship to play ball at the elite New Hampshire institution, where he would be coached by Bob Whalen, the long-time team head coach who coached his father back in the mid-90s.

Isler’s freshman year was nothing to write home about. Appearing in 12 games, making 5 starts, he posted a 13.50 ERA in 20.2 innings, allowing 51 hits, walking 8, and striking out 24. Following the conclusion of the season, he supplemented his pitching load by playing with the Vermont Mountaineers of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, posting similar results in roughly the same amount of innings. His sophomore year was more of the same, though coach Whalen inserted Isler into the pitching rotation as the team’s Sunday starter. Starting 10 games, the right-hander posted a 6.67 ERA in 55.1 innings, allowing 70 hits, walking 20, and striking out 36. Once again, following the end of the Dartmouth baseball season, Isler supplemented his innings by playing in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, this time with the Upper Valley Nighthawks.

In 2026, interim head coach Blake McFadden continued using Isler as a starting pitcher, shifting him to Saturdays. The “ace” of the staff, the right-hander posted a 4.98 ERA in 65.0 innings over 11 starts, allowing 68 hits, walking 25, and striking out 80. After the season ended, Isler participated in the precious Cape Cod Baseball League, playing for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.

Isler came to the Dartmouth campus a tall, lanky 6’5”, 215-pound teenager with broad shoulders and long limbs and he filled in, growing into a 6’6”, 235-pound hurler. His fastball improved from a high-80s offering that topped out at 91 MPH to a low-90s offering that reportedly topped out at 96 MPH. More than velocity, Isler had success with the pitch thanks to a high spin rate that gives the ball some run and above-average induced vertical break. His above-average extension helps the ball bore in on hitters virtually even more, and his high release point makes the ball more difficult for batters to pick up on.

He complements his fastball with a low-to-mid-80s slider and a changeup. The slider is the better of the two, his changeup still a lot of work to go; the slider has tight, two-plane gyroscopic break with minimal horizontal break and a great deal of vertical break, magnified by his high release point. His changeup, on the other hand, has more horizontal fade than it does drop, and giving the pitch more vertical tumble will be key to its progression as a pitch, and perhaps Isler’s progression as a pitcher.

The right-hander pounds the zone and lives in the strike zone, for good or for bad. He keeps walks to a minimum, but batters in the Ivy League had no waiting on fat pitches to hit, batting .321/.384/.482 against him over the course of his three-year career there and .265/.340/.358 in 2026. The downward trajectory that all of his pitches possess has helped him run a 40.5% groundball rate for his career and a 45% rate in 2026 and limit home runs, but Isler will need to refine and improve his pitches and potentially add to his pitch mix to have success against professionals.

A second player has been selected to the MLB in the 2026 draft class, as the Washington Nationals have selected Rutgers RHP Zack Konstantinovsky in the 14th round of the MLB draft. He joins Peyton Bonds, who was drafted in the third round by the Giants, as the two Rutgers players selected in the MLB draft. He was drafted with the 406th overall pick.

Konstantinovsky spent the last three seasons on the Scarlet Knights’ roster, playing sparingly in 2024 as a true freshman before missing all of 2025 with an injury. He saw much more playing time in 2026, surrendering 80 hits in 70.2 innings pitched with 83 strikeouts and 21 walks. Over those innings, he had an runs against averaged of 5.48.

His 83 strikeouts are the 6th most in a season in program history.

Konstantinovsky’s best game last season came against Western Carolina, where he recorded seven scoreless innings pitched, giving up just one hit and recording 6 strikeouts.

While no Rutgers players have ever been drafted by the Nationals before Konstantinovsky, five Knights were drafted by the organization when they were still the Montreal Expos. These five include RHP Jason Bergmann, shortstop Tim Sweeney, LHP Darrin Winston, infielder Ted Ciesla and outfielder Darrin Kotch.

This is the fifth straight year that Rutgers baseball has had at least two players drafted in the MLB draft. Konstantinovsky is the 13th player to be drafted to the MLB during head coach Steve Owen’s tenure, being the sixth former Rutgers pitcher to have their name called over that time.

Major League Baseball’s annual celebration of dingers has arrived with the 2026 Home Run Derby at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Eight of the game’s top sluggers will swing for the fences on Monday night, all hoping to be crowned the 2026 champion.

The Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper are the headliners in this year’s derby at their home ballpark. Schwarber has never won the derby but Harper did back in 2018, his last year in Washington, at Nationals Park. This is the two-time MVP’s first appearance since.

The other hitters in the field are Ben Rice (Yankees), Junior Caminero (Rays), Jordan Walker (Cardinals), Wilson Contreras (Red Sox), Munetaka Murakami (White Sox) and Jac Caglianone (Royals).

Stay tuned for live updates:

Home Run Derby scoreboard: First round

Top four advance, longest home run is tiebreaker

• Willson Contreras, Red Sox – 13 home runs (longest: 490 feet)
• Jordan Walker, Cardinals – 13 HR (470')
• Jac Caglianone, Royals – 8 HR (477')
• Munetaka Murakami, White Sox- 9 HR (466')
• Ben Rice, Yankees – 7 HR (443')
• Junior Caminero, Rays – 12 HR (487')
• Kyle Schwarber, Phillies– 10 HR (461')
• Bryce Harper, Phillies

Kyle Schwarber – 10 home runs

Hometown hero Kyle Schwarber leads MLB in home runs at the All-Star break, but failed to homer on his first five swings. He found a groove and ended up with 10, hitting some absolute bombs at the ballpark he calls home.

Junior Caminero – 12 home runs

Last year's runner-up, the 23-year-old Caminero lost out to Cal Raleigh in Atlanta in 2025. He hit 12 in his first round tonight, one short of the leaders but has likely booked himself a spot in the next round.

479 feet and 478 feet on back-to-back swings from Junior Caminero! #HRDerbypic.twitter.com/26Y5Et15o8

— MLB (@MLB) July 14, 2026

Ben Rice – 7 home runs

Ben Rice was the fifth batter up in the Home Run Derby and posted the lowest total of anybody so far, finishing his round with seven homers and a longest of 443 feet.

The Yankees slugger enters the All-Star Break with 29 home runs, third in MLB behind Kyle Schwarber and Yordan Alvarez.

Munetaka Murakami – 9 home runs

Japanese rookie Munetaka Murakami had a decent round, clubbing nine home runs at Citizens Bank Park.

Majestic swing from Mune 😎 pic.twitter.com/xOoWCTrcfI

— MLB (@MLB) July 14, 2026

Jac Caglianone – 8 home runs

Royals slugger Jac Caglianone follows Walker and Contreras, swinging for the short porch in right field at Citizens Bank Park. He ended his round with eight home runs and a longest of 477.

Jac Caglianone to the UPPER DECK 😱 pic.twitter.com/ORKc3ZEIRu

— MLB (@MLB) July 14, 2026

Jordan Walker – 13 home runs

Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker is the second hitter of the night, hitting three home runs on his first four swings.

Walker got tired as his round went on, but ended up tying Contreras with 13 homers, the longest traveling 470 feet.

Willson Contreras - 13 home runs

Boston's Willson Contreras was the first hitter of the night, crushing seven homers on his first 10 swings.

Contreras ended his round with 13 home runs on his allotted 20 swings, setting the bar high incredibly high for the rest of the field. His longest home run of the round was 490 feet.

Willson Contreras on 3 consecutive swings:

482 feet
487 feet
470 feet pic.twitter.com/NV6YvrMzgD

— MLB (@MLB) July 14, 2026

National anthem and introductions in Philly

The eight participants in this year's Home Run Derby have entered the ring (literally), with Bryce Harper hyping the fans in his home ballpark.

Bryce Harper wants you to know that the @TMobile#HRDerby is ABOUT TO START 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/x4K6W5Ezor

— MLB (@MLB) July 14, 2026

Judging by most statistics, Yankees right-hander Cam Schlittler has been the best pitcher in the American League this season. The 25-year-old leads the league in ERA (2.05), pitching WAR (4.1) and WHIP (0.944), and he’s second in innings pitched with 118.2.

And while Schlittler is in Philadelphia for this week’s All-Star Game festivities, he will not pitch during the game, a decision he came to recently to focus on the second half of the season. 

Toronto right-hander Dylan Cease will start for the American League instead, with that announcement coming prior to Schlittler making his own decision.

“I think the plan from a month ago or so was to throw, especially if I was able to start,” Schlittler said during his media availability on Monday. “I felt confident with how I felt in Tampa after my start, felt confident in my recovery coming into Washington. 

“I threw and I kind of sat there like it’s a long season, I’ve thrown a lot of innings so far, we’ve had a few injuries (to the rotation) already, and just didn’t want to risk the chance of feeling a little bit dragged after if I were to go out there on two days rest and try to throw 100 miles per hour. 

“So, again just trying to put myself and the team first. We’ve got bigger aspirations for the season.”

The Yankees are currently 3.0 games back of the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East, but they own the first Wild Card spot and appear to be in a pretty comfortable position to make the postseason, especially given how the American League has struggled overall (The 48-49 Seattle Mariners currently hold the third and final playoff spot). 

So Schlittler will take in all the All-Star Game festivities from the sidelines, but the moment is certainly not lost on him.

“I think it will probably sink in tomorrow during the game, or maybe just after, just realizing how fortunate I am to be in this position,” he said.

“I think the biggest thing is just meeting all of the guys,” he later added. “I’ve only been up here for a year now and the best players in the league are here, so it will be really good to talk to them, pick their brains and see what I can learn and just enjoy it and watch the fun happen.”

Schlittler’s rise to the top of the American League has been meteoric. He started last season in Double-A and pitched just five games at the Triple-A level before getting the call to the majors. 

Now he’s among the best in the game, and he’s not looking back.

“[The Yankees] gave me an opportunity,” Schlittler said, “and I just kind of ran with it.”

At its core, the Home Run Derby is a vibes event. Eight large men try to hit a baseball extremely far, we “ooooh and ahhhh” at the majestic dingers. You do not need Statcast to enjoy it. That said, the past few years there has been an alternative Statcast broadcast to focus on bat speed, launch angle, barrel rates and so much more. So, I decided to fill the void and create a Statcast preview of tonight’s long ball festivities in Philadelphia.

Cubs fans in particular have some old friends to cheer for tonight. Kyle Schwarber will look to avenge his 2018 Home Run Derby appearance when Bryce Harper (also in tonight’s field) just edged him out on some, shall we say questionable batting practice pitches given the timing rules. Schwarber already has an MLB leading 32 home runs on the 2026 campaign and this will be his third Home Run Derby appearance. He’ll be up against another 2016 Cubs hero, Willson Contreras. Contreras is having one of the best offensive seasons of his career in Boston slashing .285/.379/.542 with 20 home runs so far in the 2026 campaign.

But today I want to dig a little deeper than hometown legends and slash lines to see who has the edge in a stacked Derby field that will see Schwarber and Contreras joined by the Rays Junior Caminero (second appearance), Harper (third appearance), the Cardinals Jordan Walker (first appearance), the White Sox’ Munetaka Murakami (first appearance), the Royals Jac Caglianone (first appearance) and the Yankees Ben Rice (first appearance). It does seem worth caveating that Murakami stands out among the first-timers with 246 career home runs in NPB before joining the White Sox this season. But that’s besides the point, there will be bombs in Philadelphia tonight and Statcast can tell us a bit about who has the edge in different categories.

The bat-speed monsters

Junior Caminero owns the field’s top average bat speed, with Jordan Walker sitting right behind him. You can see how the field stacks up in terms of average bat speed below:

Walker and Caminero are both in the 100th-percentile bat-speed leaguewide. Caglianone is right behind them at the 97th percentile with Schwarber and Contreras both in the 96th percentile. Bat speed isn’t everything, but in a competition aimed at hitting home runs, having a quick swing can certainly be a difference maker. It also probably helps on the endurance side of the derby to have experience swinging hard most of the time, which Caminero, Walker, Caglianone, Schwarber, Contreras and Murakami all do (although there is a big difference between taking a maximum swing 55.34% of the time vs. 88.22% of the time).

PLAKATA!

Then there is the question of how frequently these players hit a blast, or as Marquee Sports Network’s Carlos Peña might say, “PLAKATA!” Blast is Statcast’s metric for a ball where there was a fast swing and squared up contact:

During the 2024 season, 10% of competitive swings and 27% of batted balls across the Major Leagues qualified as blasts.

The value for hitters on blasts vs. non-blasts was about as large as you can get.

Blasts (i.e., squared-up contact with a high swing speed)

• .563 BA // 1.182 SLG // .727 wOBA
• 103.5 mph exit velocity // 99.9% hard-hit rate // 28% barrel rate
• +34 run value per 100 pitches

Non-blast batted balls

• .231 BA // .295 SLG // .225 wOBA
• 84.1 mph exit velocity // 17% hard-hit rate // 0.7% barrel rate
• -5 run value per 100 pitches

Obviously the Home Run Derby is batting practice, so there’s less pressure to hit, say, a Hunter Greene 100 MPH fastball as a blast. However, it does seem intuitive that having a higher blast rate in a game situation would likely translate to a better ability to hit blasts in a practice situation. I resorted the above table by % Blast by Swing and Caminero is still number one in MLB, followed by Walker at nine, Caglianone at 10, Rice at 25, Murakami at 39, Contreras at 57, Harper at 65 and Schwarber at 73.

A Barrel of Dingers

Blasts aren’t the only way to measure elite contact, though. Part of the Home Run Derby game is elevating the ball and squaring up contact. The way to measure that is Statcast’s barrel rate. As a reminder, barrels are defined by MLB as:

The Barrel classification is assigned to batted-ball events whose comparable hit types (in terms of exit velocity and launch angle) have led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage since Statcast was implemented Major League wide in 2015.

But similar to how Quality Starts have generally yielded a mean ERA much lower than the baseline of 4.50, the average Barrel has produced a batting mark and a slugging percentage significantly higher than .500 and 1.500, respectively. During the 2016 regular season, balls assigned the Barreled classification had a batting average of .822 and a 2.386 slugging percentage.

To be Barreled, a batted ball requires an exit velocity of at least 98 mph. At that speed, balls struck with a launch angle between 26-30 degrees always garner Barreled classification. For every mph over 98, the range of launch angles expands.

Below you can see the Home Run Derby contestants sorted by barrel rate, including their MLB rank by barrel rate in the final column:

By this metric, Murakami and Schwarber rise to the top of the field, with Rice, Caglianone, Contreras, Walker and Caminero all squarely in the 85th percentile and above in all of baseball. If the name of the game is hitting the ball hard, in the air, it would seem that Murakami and Schwarber may be the favorites to come out on top of a stacked field.

Wild Cards

That said, baseball is always going to baseball so I’m sure some elements of our expectations will be tested. The two biggest wild cards in this year’s Home Run Derby are the changes to the format and the pitchers throwing batting practice.

The format this year will not have a timer and players will get a finite number of swings, per MLB:

Eight players will still make up the field, same as in years past. But instead of trying to hit as many homers as they can during timed rounds, participants will start each round with a finite number of swings: 20 in Round 1, 15 in Round 2 and 15 again in the final round.

All swings will count against a player’s swing allotment, whether it results in a homer or not. However, a player who homers on his final swing of a round can keep swinging until he doesn’t hit one out.

The lack of a timer could alleviate some of the endurance issues that have haunted players who hit a large number of home runs early, or found themselves in a tie in the early rounds, only to fade later. It also means you have to be prepared to rake, right away.

Finally, one of the biggest variables in the Derby has always been having a pitcher who can throw you balls in your personal sweet spot over and over again. One of the reasons Pete Alonso was so excellent in his Home Run Derby appearances (aside from being built for the event and prodigious power) was Dave Jauss doing an excellent job throwing to him. You can hear Jauss talk about that below:

As Jay Jaffe at FanGraphs noted, having Jauss throw batting practice to the perfect human specimen for Derby multiple times was probably at least part of the reason for Alonso’s success in the Derby:

As I noted last year, the 6-foot-3, 245-pound Alonso seems built for this competition, stepping into the box looking loose and operating at maximum efficiency in an event where efficiency is underappreciated. Some credit for that is almost certainly owed to Mets bench coach Dave Jauss, his pitcher, who consistently puts the ball in his wheelhouse. Alonso always appears to understand exactly what he needs to do to win, whereas others step into the box thinking, “I’ll try Plan A, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll try Plan B…” by which point it’s too late, at least in this unforgiving draw. In both the semifinals and finals last year, Alonso needed far less than the allotted time to win.

Whatever transpires in Philadelphia tonight, I expect there will be a lot of joy and spectacle. Whether your turn of phrase as the ball sails over the fence is BOOMSTICK!, PLAKATA!, BOMBSKI!, or some other moniker, it should be an awesome show to remember tonight at Citizens Bank Park.

There will be a “game thread” here for the Home Run Derby. It will post at 6 p.m. CT and the event begins at 7 p.m. CT.