MLB's biggest fireworks show of the summer is taking place right now, with eight of the game's premier sluggers facing off in the T-Mobile Home Run Derby, live on ESPN.
One thing we do know for sure is we'll see a first-time champion hoist the trophy at the end of the night.
Here are the competitors, in the order they are batting in the first round:
1. James Wood, Nationals
2. Brent Rooker, Athletics
3. Junior Caminero, Rays
4. Oneil Cruz, Pirates
5. Byron Buxton, Twins
6. Jazz Chisholm Jr., Yankees
7. Cal Raleigh, Mariners
8. Matt Olson, Braves
Follow along below for round-by-round highlights and analysis.
Round 1
Jazz Chisholm Jr. -- Eliminated
HR total: 3
Byron Buxton
HR total: 20
Talk about some majestic dingers. Nearly every one of Buxton’s 20 blasts was a skyscraper arcing high into the Atlanta night as the Twins star closed his first round strong. He hit seven homers in the final minute, then crushed four homers before he even made an out in his bonus round. Fresh off hitting for the cycle on Saturday, Buxton maxed out at 466 feet on his homers.
LONGEST HR: 466 feet
HARDEST HR: 112 mph
AVG. HR DISTANCE: 427 feet
AVG. HR EXIT VELO: 106.3 mph
Oneil Cruz
HR total: 21
Nobody in baseball hits the ball harder than Cruz, so it was no surprise that he put on a show in his first Home Run Derby. Among his 21 impressive homers, one of them stood alone: a 513-foot shot that left Cruz’s bat at a scalding 118 mph. That was tied with Aaron Judge (2017 in Miami) for the fourth-longest Home Run Derby homer since Statcast began tracking in 2016. It's also tied for the longest home run that wasn’t hit at Coors Field in the 2021 Derby.
LONGEST HR: 513 feet
HARDEST HR: 118 mph
AVG. HR DISTANCE: 447 feet
AVG. HR EXIT VELO: 111 mph
Junior Caminero
HR total: 21
Caminero made it look easy in the opening round of his first Derby, swatting 21 homers -- all but one of which was hit to left or left-center field -- and getting impressive loft on his swing. The Rays third baseman showed why he has the second-highest bat speed in the Major Leagues, blasting homers as far as 474 feet (twice) to take the lead over Brent Rooker and James Wood. Plus, he did it all while swinging a bat with his own likeness on it!
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