The Dream Field for 2024 MLB Home Run Derby

On Monday, July 15, the 2024 Home Run Derby at the Texas Rangers' Globe Life Field will feature eight of Major League Baseball's premier lumber wielders.

Yet, with less than three weeks remaining until that annual spectacle of back-back-backing, we still don't know any of the participants.

The only news thus far about the Home Run Derby field was the unfortunate report from Saturday that MLB's home run leader, Aaron Judge, is declining to compete.

Even with Judge out of the question, though, we can still put together quite the dream field of players capable of putting baseballs into orbit.

We don't actually expect all eight players in our dream Home Run Derby field to take part in this year's exhibition, but here's how we would rank our choices, based on a combination of derby history, star power and exit velocity.

Players are listed beginning with the most must-have.

2024 Home Run Count: 14 for Corey Seager, 13 for Adolis García

Our No. 1, non-negotiable pick for last year's Home Run Derby in Seattle was Julio Rodríguez, and boy howdy did he put on a show in the first round with his 41-21 victory over two-time derby champion Pete Alonso.

Well, with Texas hosting this year's All-Star Game, it's really just a question of which Ranger is most eager to redeem his previous derby disappointment(s).

Adolis García did last year's derby but was quickly ousted by Randy Arozarena. It certainly didn't do anything to screw up his swing for the second half of the season, though, as he hit more home runs after the All-Star break (24) than he did before it (23)—provided you count the eight that he mashed during one of the most dominant postseason runs ever.

Perhaps doing this year's derby would actually fix his swing? He has 13 homers for the season, but only one in his last 25 games.

Then there's two-time first-round exiter Corey Seager, who was immediately bounced in both the 2016 and 2022 Home Run Derbies. But he was Texas' World Series MVP last fall, he was the first runner-up to Shohei Ohtani in the 2023 AL MVP vote and he is the Rangers' $325 million man.

Unless they're bringing Josh Hamilton out of retirement for another derby spectacular a la 2008, Seager is the relatively obvious choice for the home team—provided the organization can convince him the third time's the charm.

2024 Home Run Count: 23

Shohei Ohtani hasn't been quite as hot as last June—when he hit triple-slashed .394/.492/.952 with 15 home runs in 27 games while beginning to run away with his second MVP trophy—but he has been on an outrageous heater this month all the same.

Not only did he recently have a surge of six home runs in seven days, but four of those six dingers traveled more than 450 feet, including the 476-foot moonshot in Colorado last Tuesday that ranks as the longest any player has hit thus far this season.

All nine of his home runs in June have gone at least 400 feet.

Per Codify, he's the only player in the Statcast era (2015-present) with multiple 450+ foot home runs at Dodger Stadium. He has hit four that distance this season alone, including two on back-to-back days this past weekend against his former team.

Suffice it to say, he has recovered from that hamstring bruise that hampered him for a short while in May.

Now, how do we convince Major League Baseball's biggest star to compete in another Home Run Derby?

Ohtani did the derby in 2021 and it was, of course, a spectacle. He got eliminated in the first round by Juan Soto, but only after multiple tie-breaker sessions.

Unfortunately, he was nowhere near the same hitter in the second half of that season. Ohtani went from slugging .698 before the 2021 All-Star break to just .458 after it. So, if the $700 million man decides once again not to partake in this mashing exhibition, it'd be hard to blame him.

It'd be a whole lot more fun if he did it, though, especially after he hit five home runs in seven games at Globe Life Field in 2023.

2024 Home Run Count: 9

Nine is a paltry total for a Home Run Derby contestant, especially for someone who has yet to miss a game this season.

However, the Home Run Derby is a bit like The Masters, in that former champs have a permanent standing invitation to wow us again.

In particular, the reigning champion is always welcome back, and at least somewhat expected to return—even though Aaron Judge (2017 champ), Bryce Harper (2018) and Juan Soto (2022) have each thus far refused to run it back.

So, yes, we want Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s nine home runs, and all of the "Are the Blue Jays going to trade this star away???" discussion that inevitably would come with it.

Not only did Guerrero win this thing last year, but he almost won it in 2019. That's when—as a rookie who had hit just eight home runs prior to the All-Star Break, by the way—Vladdy Jr. became a household name around the country for that sensational 40-39 semifinals showdown with Joc Pederson.

Guerrero hit a total of 91 home runs that year, which is still the all-time record for a single Home Run Derby.

And at least he has mashed a few no-doubters recently. The 436-foot tank job he hit on Sunday wasn't his longest of the season, but it was a great reminder of his derby prowess all the same.

2024 Home Run Count: 18

We've already mentioned Juan Soto a couple of times here.

Childish Bambino bested Shohei Ohtani in the first round in 2021 before winning the Home Run Derby the following year—a whole two weeks before he was traded to the Padres in one of the biggest deadline deals ever.

And if Soto could win a derby amid all those trade rumors two summers ago, imagine what he might be able to do this year—as one of the top candidates for AL MVP, playing for one of the favorites to win the World Series and preparing to sign what will be a gargantuan contract in free agency.

Because of the left forearm inflammation that caused him to miss a few games earlier this month—inflammation that is probably at least partially to blame for the fact that he is slugging .304 with one home run dating back to June 3—it's pretty unlikely Soto will actually do this year's derby.

But, come on, one of the former champions currently on the Yankees roster needs to be in this field, right?

MLB's 2024 home run leader, Aaron Judge, has already said he won't be competing this year after winning in 2017. And MLB's active leader in career home runs, Giancarlo Stanton, recently landed on the IL with a hamstring strain and is probably still going to be on the IL by the time the All-Star break rolls around. Defending his 2016 crown presumably isn't happening, either.

Help us, Juan Soto. You're our only hope. (Of there being a Yankee in the field for most fans to root against.)

2024 Home Run Count: 16

At this point, "Derby" might be Pete Alonso's middle name, or at least the name of one of his pets.

Alonso won the Home Run Derby as a rookie in 2019. He hit a total of 56 dingers that year. (Plus an MLB-best 53 during the regular season.)

After there was no All-Star Game in 2020, Alonso was back and successfully defended his crown in 2021 with 74 more home runs at Coors Field.

In each of the past two years, though, the Polar Bear's quest to join Ken Griffey Jr. as the only three-time derby champion was halted by Julio Rodríguez. However, he did still hit 64 home runs between the 2022 and 2023 derbies, bringing his career derby total to 194.

Can we somehow convince him to do this every year, if he isn't already planning on it?

Maybe tell Alonso that if he can eclipse Barry Bonds' combined total of 809 home runs—762 regular season, 47 in six derbies—that we'll recognize him as the all-time HR king? He's already almost halfway there with 402 total.

And this year, there's extra July intrigue surrounding Alonso, with the possibility the impending free agent could get traded.

The Mets are presently just one game back for the NL's No. 6 seed and wouldn't be sellers if the deadline was today, but that could change. If it does, perhaps the Home Run Derby at Globe Life Field will be a nice little preview of what Alonso could do over the final two months of the season for a Rangers team that has gotten a grand total of three home runs from its first basemen thus far this season.

2024 Home Run Count: 10

Royce Lewis' career has been so marred by injury that—unless you've made it a point to watch Minnesota Twins games over the past three weeks—you're probably flabbergasted by this selection.

But did you know that the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 draft homered in 10 of his first 65 plate appearances of this season?

Or that his career rate of at-bats per home run (11.81) is on par with that of Aaron Judge (11.51) and better than Barry Bonds (12.96)?

That doesn't even include the four home runs that Lewis hit in 22 ABs in the most recent postseason, either. Factor those in and his career rate drops to 11.0 AB/HR.

When healthy, Minnesota's young third baseman has been all sorts of special. He hit four grand slams in the span of 20 days last season. Then he homered in his first at-bat of 2024, missed more than two months with a quad injury and homered in his first at-back back.

If he's still healthy three weeks from now, he could put on an unforgettable show.

Though, if he cited his injury history as a reason not to do the derby, who could blame him?

2024 Home Run Count: 24

Both of last year's Rookie of the Year votes were unanimous, with Gunnar Henderson winning the American League award and Corbin Carroll taking the National League crown.

While we've been waiting some time now for the reigning NL ROY to snap out of his sophomore slump, the young AL star is approaching the midpoint of what might be an MVP campaign.

Henderson has already nearly matched his home run total from 2023 (28), and he is showing no signs of slowing down. He just had his first multi-HR game of the season on Friday, and has an OPS of 1.065 in June.

Compared to most of the sluggers we'd love to see in this year's derby, Henderson is notably a bit lacking in the "average home run distance" department. His longest blast of the season was 430 feet, and Baseball Savant says he would only have 14 home runs right now if all his games were played at Fenway Park.

But he can destroy baseballs when he feels like it.

Henderson had five home runs longer than 430 feet last season, including this 462-foot annihilation onto Eutaw Street. And his hard-hit percentage this season is fifth in the majors, behind only Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He's simply more of a line-drive slugger (average launch angle of 10.3 degrees) than an in-game moonshot launcher.

Perhaps he could launch some for a derby, though.

2024 Home Run Count: 13

I could have gone a number of different directions with this eighth choice.

Marcell Ozuna is having one hell of a season with 21 home runs. Josh Naylor is right there with Ozuna at 20 dingers, and seems like the type of slugger who would be entertaining in a derby. Bryce Harper is a former champ with 18 home runs. Julio Rodríguez is struggling this season, but has put on incredible shows in each of the past two derbies. Oneil Cruz only has 10 home runs this season, but very few players hit harder than him. And then you've got both Yordan Alvarez and Fernando Tatis Jr. in the "Wait, how has that guy never done a derby?" department.

We'll happily take any of those seven in place of the few from our top seven who inevitably will decline to compete.

But getting Elly De La Cruz in this year's derby would be awesome.

Even before EDLC made it to the majors last season, we were already clamoring for the day that he participated in a Home Run Derby. It felt like every two or three days last spring that there was another video of him launching a ball some 460 feet down at Triple-A Louisville.

That power certainly followed him to the big leagues. Among players to hit multiple home runs in 2023, only Shohei Ohtani (422 feet) had an average home run distance greater than De La Cruz's 420 feet. And of his 13 blasts thus far in 2024, four have traveled more than 440 feet.

He has done most of his damage from the left-handed batter's box, but like Adley Rutschman in last year's derby, De La Cruz can homer from both sides of the plate.

If only we could also incorporate his base-stealing prowess into the competition. He would easily get the most inside-the-park home runs from this group.