Vlad Jr. launches 72 dingers to win Home Run Derby
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is your 2023 MLB All-Star Home Run Derby champion!
After a four-year absence from the event, he takes home his first Derby title with a win over Randy Arozarena in the final. Guerrero and his Hall of Fame father Vladimir Guerrero Sr., who won it 16 years ago, are the first father-son duo to be Home Run Derby champions.
In the process, a prospective three-time winner was eliminated, with Pete Alonso booted in the first round after Julio Rodriguez hit a whopping 41 home runs, the most ever in a single Derby round. J-Rod, however, was unable to secure the hometown coronation in the Emerald City, losing to Guerrero in the second round.
We have your one-stop shop for everything Derby related, from the round-by-round results to our favorite moments from one of the most anticipated events of the summer.
Round 1
No. 5 Randy Arozarena (24 home runs) defeated No. 4 Adolis Garcia (17 home runs)
No. 1 Luis Robert Jr. (28 home runs) defeated No. 8 Adley Rutschman (27 home runs)
No. 3 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (26 home runs) defeated No. 6 Mookie Betts (11 home runs)
No. 2 Julio Rodriguez (41 home runs) defeated No. 7 Pete Alonso (21 home runs)
Round 2
Arozarena (35 home runs) defeated Robert (22 home runs)
Guerrero (21 home runs) defeated Rodriguez (20 home runs)
Final
Guerrero (25 home runs) defeated Arozarena (23 home runs)
Our favorite moments from the 2023 Home Run Derby
Jeff Passan: The crescendo built slowly. Rodriguez, favorite son of Seattle, the kid who took the Seattle Mariners to the playoffs for the first time in 20 years, started his first-round matchup against two-time champion Pete Alonso with 14 home runs before his timeout. Then he kept mashing, and the crowd got louder and louder and louder, blooming in full appreciation of what it was witnessing. By the end, when Rodriguez had hit 41 home runs, the standing ovation was deafening. History was made, and even if Rodriguez’s night would end in the next round, nobody cared. The J-Rod Show had delivered its finest episode yet.
Jesse Rogers: J-Rod hitting 41 home runs in the first round was great, but Rutschman hitting bombs from both sides of the plate is an all-time great moment. After smashing 21 from the left side, he went over to the right and blasted six more over the fences. Switch-hitters are already cool in the first place, so Rutschman going back and forth at the plate topped the night for me.
Alden Gonzalez: This Derby delivered from start to finish, so I’m going to go with the very end — 30 seconds left, five home runs to go, Arozarena, who loves the bright lights more than anyone, hitting with his lucky cowboy boots behind him. The tension within T-Mobile Park was palpable at that point. And seeing it finish with Guerrero doing what his dad did only 16 years ago was pretty sweet.
