Breaking down this year's Derby contestants — and pitchers
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Buster Olney, ESPN Senior Writer
Monday night’s Home Run Derby field is full of worthy contenders: Gunnar Henderson is in Dallas because he has more home runs than anyone other than Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani. Bobby Witt Jr. is among the most exciting players in the big leagues and in the conversation for AL MVP. The Los Angeles Dodgers‘ Teoscar Hernandez hits home runs in bunches; practicing for the event during a series in Detroit, Hernandez filled the left-field seats.
But while the eight hitters are the stars of the event, their success or failure tonight will be largely based on the efficiency of their pitchers they’ve picked to throw to them. “There’s no doubt,” said Dino Ebel, the L.A. coach who will be throwing to Hernandez. It’s the fourth time he’s served as a batting practice pitcher in the Derby, so he knows well the pressure that will be on him and the others who throw to the hitters. It’s even more true this year because of the new rule that limits each hitter to 40 pitches — not 40 swings, but 40 pitches — in their three-minute rounds.
Standing in the middle of a loud, packed ballpark can be a lonely experience, and there have been instances in past derbies when the BP pitchers have been overcome by nerves, struggling to put the ball in the hitter’s preferred spot. If that happens under the new rules, it could sink the chances of the hitter, who would no longer have the chance to make up for an erratic pitcher by taking extra swings.
Some notes about the eight Derby contestants, including what we know about the pitchers they picked. It’s clear: The hitters value experience.
Alonso is trying to join Ken Griffey Jr. as the only three-time winner of the Derby, and he’ll reunite with former Mets coach Dave Jauss, who was on the mound for the second of Alonso’s previous victories. Jauss has kept in touch with Alonso, and when he attended the Mets-Phillies games in England last month, he and Alonso discussed the possibility of teaming up once more.
How good is Jauss at throwing batting practice? Well, Major League Baseball has used him to throw in its overseas hitting exhibitions in the past.
Alonso will also have the advantage of experience: Adolis Garcia and Jose Ramirez has been in the Derby before, but this is Alonso’s fifth attempt. As he explained on ESPN’s preview show last week, he is doing this to honor his own wishes that took shape as a boy, when he loved to watch the event and dreamed of being one of the sluggers on baseball’s biggest summer stage.
A big number for Alonso: Six seasons into his big league career, Alonso has racked up 210 homers, clubbing 37 or more in four seasons.
Average distance of his home runs in 2024: 405 feet.
Bohm played in the 2016 Coastal Plain League while he was enrolled at Wichita State, and during that season, Bohm participated in a home run derby. Scott Wingo, one of Bohm’s coaches, threw to him, and Bohm won.
So Bohm decided to reunite with Wingo, who played four years in the minor leagues after being picked in the 11th round by the Dodgers in 2011; Wingo is now the recruiting coordinator for the Manhattan Jaspers. Bohm told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “I texted him and asked him how busy he was the next couple of weeks. He said not very busy. He was excited.”
Bohm is not as prototypical home run hitter in the way that Judge or Alonso is; rather, he tends to spray the ball to all fields. Among all hitters qualified for the batting title, he ranks 18th for the highest percentage of balls hit to the opposite field. Bohm understands the difference, of course, between hitting in games and mashing in the Derby. “I’m just going to see how many I can hit over the left field fence,” he told the Inquirer. “In a BP scenario, I feel comfortable — I’m not going to say it’s a different swing, but it’s probably not the game swing.”
A big number for Bohm: His longest home run in the big leagues was 446 feet, on Aug. 23, 2020. Bohm could become only the second third baseman to win this event; Todd Frazier was the first, in 2015.
Average 2024 HR distance: 398 feet.
Garcia has the advantage of being at home in Arlington for this event, and he said in a conversation last week that he expects Texas fans will support him strongly. He’d become the fourth player to win in his home park, after Ryne Sandberg in 1990, Todd Frazier in 2015, and Bryce Harper in 2018.
Interestingly, Garcia’s choice of batting practice pitcher was up in the air in the middle of last week — through an interpreter, Garcia mentioned that he was thinking through various options. “But if none of those work out,” he said, “then we’ll go with Tony Beasley.” That would be the Rangers’ third-base coach, who, like Ebel, has thrown in the Derby in multiple seasons.
A big number for Garcia: He has 67 career home runs in Globe Life Park, in 269 games. And he’ll always be remembered for his absurd power in last year’s postseason — eight homers (and 22 RBI) in 15 games.
Average 2024 HR distance: 402 feet.
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde believes Henderson has a shot to win the Derby because of his raw power. And Globe Life Field is known to be more friendly to left-handed hitters than right-handed hitters — Henderson and Ramirez (a switch-hitter) are the only batters in the field who can swing from the left side.
Buck Britton, the brother of longtime pitcher Zack Britton and the Triple-A manager in the Orioles’ organization, will throw to Henderson. The two have practiced at Camden Yards, with Henderson’s close friend and teammate Colton Cowser serving as timekeeper.
A big number for Henderson: Only two shortstops have won the Derby before, and, like Henderson, they both played for the Orioles. Cal Ripken won in 1991, and Miguel Tejada did in 2004.
Average 2024 HR distance: 401 feet.
Teoscar Hernandez, Los Angeles Dodgers
Hernandez was the last entrant to announce his participation in the Derby, but well before that was revealed publicly, he had asked Ebel if he could throw to him if Hernandez’s entry became official. Ebel said yes, having enjoyed his three previous derbies — sharing in a championship with Vladimir Guerrero Sr. in 2007, and throwing to Albert Pujols in 2015 and Joc Pederson in 2019.
Over the weekend in Detroit, Hernandez and Ebel practiced somewhat informally, with the two of them using the last round of batting practice to focus on home runs. “Oh my god, he’s so strong,” Ebel said. “His swing — short and quick to the ball.” When they worked Friday, Ebel said: “He hit seven, eight, nine in a row.”
A big number for Hernandez: He is a product of Cotui, Dominican Republic, and through the years, six players born in the D.R. have won the Derby — Sammy Sosa, Miguel Tejada, Vlad Sr., David Ortiz, Robinson Cano and Juan Soto. That’s a hell of a legacy.
Average 2024 HR distance: 395 feet.
Jose Yepez, Atlanta’s bullpen catcher, will work with Ozuna. Catchers are generally known to be excellent batting practice pitchers because they typically throw with an easy, over-the-top motion that makes the ball easy to track for hitters. “I’m just going to have fun and compete,” Ozuna told reporters last week. “I told Yeppy to not get too excited, just throw in down the middle and I’m going to hit it anywhere.”
“I’ve been there before watching my teammates do it, so I just want to do it this year to see how cool it is going to be, especially for my kids. They want to have that experience and bring me some towels and waters.”
A big number for Ozuna: He is 33 years and 246 days old, and if he wins, he’ll be the fourth-oldest ever to get it done in the Derby. The oldest: David Ortiz, who was 34 years and 247 days old when he won.
Average 2024 HR distance: 409 feet.
Junior Betances, the hitting coach for the Columbus Clippers, will throw to Ramirez, just as he did in 2022 when Ramirez was part of the field in Dodger Stadium. But that year, the switch-hitting Ramirez was dealing with a thumb injury that forced him to hit from the right side of the plate. This year, Ramirez is able to swing from either side — and according to MLB.com, he has said that he will wait until he sees how he feels on the day of the Derby before determining whether he’ll bat left-handed or right-handed.
Listed at 5-foot-9, 180 pounds, Ramirez is the shortest in the field, and typically, this is an event that goes to heavyweights and light heavyweights. But Ramirez is also known for having very consistent rounds of batting practice.
A big number for Ramirez: No switch-hitter has ever won the Derby outright, although Ruben Sierra shared the title with Eric Davis in 1989. Lance Berkman made the finals in 2004, and last year, Adley Rutschman started out batting left-handed in his first round of the Derby, then switched to the right side.
Average 2024 HR distance: 388 feet — the shortest average among the eight competitors.
Of all of the Derby contestants, he probably has the widest array of pitching talent available to him. His father, Bobby Witt, worked 16 seasons in the majors, winning 142 games while compiling 2,465 innings, and all things being equal, Witt Jr. said over the phone the other day, his Dad might’ve been his first choice. But after throwing that many innings over all those years on the mound, Bobby Witt’s arm “is pretty beat down.”
Witt has three other relatives through marriage who have played in the big leagues, and he landed on James Russell, who is married to Nikki Witt, Bobby Jr.’s sister. Russell pitched seven years in the big leagues, six of those with the Chicago Cubs, from 2010 to ’15. “He might be more fired up than I am,” said Witt, who has taken batting practice against Russell a couple of times and knows his delivery well. “He was always a good command guy,” Witt said. “Lefty specialist, three-quarter arm slot.”
Witt has sought counsel from teammate Salvador Perez, who has been in the Derby in the past, and Perez gave him the go-ahead. “One hundred percent you have to do it!” Perez told him.
Witt famously participated in a home run competition at MLB’s Derby in 2018, against Rece Hinds — who recently broke into the big leagues with the Cincinnati Reds with a barrage of home runs — and knows something about the pace. But Witt went through a practice round at Fenway Park on Friday, trying to get a sense of the timing and when he might want to call a timeout.
A big number for Witt: The Royals shortstop has 16 homers this season, the second fewest among those in the Derby Field, but he has big power — his average exit velocity on his home runs this season has been 107.9 mph, according to the research of Sarah Langs.
Average HR distance: 418 feet — easily the highest for any hitter in the derby.
