Raleigh edges Rooker in Derby's 1st round by less than an inch

In a competition where distances are measured in hundreds of feet, you wouldn’t expect it to come down to a measurement of less than an inch. But that’s how Cal Raleigh advanced to the semifinals in Monday’s T-Mobile Home Run Derby at Atlanta’s Truist Park.

Raleigh and Brent Rooker each finished the first round with 17 home runs, tied for fourth-most among the eight sluggers. With the top four contestants advancing to the semifinals, a tiebreaker was needed to determine whether Raleigh, MLB's home run leader with 38, or Rooker, who hit 20 in the first half, advanced. With no swing-offs in the first round, the determining factor is the player’s longest homer.

At first glance, it looked like the two tied in that respect as well: The leaderboard had each one’s longest blast at 471 feet. But digging deeper showed more accurate distances:

Raleigh: 470.62 feet
Rooker: 470.54 feet

That’s right: the Big Dumper advanced by .08 feet, or 0.96 inches.

Semifinals

Oneil Cruz vs. Cal Raleigh

Raleigh semifinal total: 19

In an incredible semifinal performance, Raleigh demonstrated why he hit the second-most homers (38) by any player before the All-Star break in MLB history. Unlike Round 1, he batted left-handed the entire time rather than switch-hitting, and it paid off: Raleigh homered on four of his first five swings for a stellar start to his round. He stayed hot after his timeout, totaling 16 homers in regulation and adding three more in his bonus round.

LONGEST HR: 465 feet
HARDEST HR: 109 mph
AVG. HR DISTANCE: 430 feet
AVG. HR EXIT VELO: 104.8 mph

Junior Caminero defeats Byron Buxton

Caminero semifinal total: 8

After crushing 21 homers in the first round, Caminero needed less than a minute in the semifinals to advance to the finals after hitting eight home runs and passing Buxton’s total. Caminero joined Randy Arozarena -- who lost in the finals in the 2023 Derby against Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in Seattle—as the only Rays hitters to make it to the Home Run Derby finals.

LONGEST HR: 460 feet
HARDEST HR: 113 mph
AVG. HR DISTANCE: 433 feet
AVG. HR EXIT VELO: 107.6 mph

Buxton semifinal total: 7

Buxton struggled in the semis after slugging 20 homers in Round 1 to advance. He hit just one homer in his first 10 swings before picking up the pace to finish with six in regulation and adding another during his bonus round. His longest homer was 456 feet, longer than all but one of his first-round homers (466 feet).

LONGEST HR: 456 feet
HARDEST HR: 108 mph
AVG. HR DISTANCE: 416 feet
AVG. HR EXIT VELO: 105.7 mph

Matt Olson -- eliminated
HR total: 15

Born in Atlanta and having manned first base for the Braves since 2022, Olson had the chance to play hometown hero. The only contestant with previous Derby experience -- he hit 23 home runs in the first round of the ‘21 Derby in Colorado but was eliminated—Olson struggled out of the gate by going homerless on his first nine swings. Olson turned it around, hitting all 15 home runs after his first one at 2:02, but he finished just short of moving on.

Cal Raleigh
HR total: 17

Raleigh became the second player to switch sides of the plate in the Home Run Derby (joining Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman in 2023), and the Mariners backstop did it TWICE! MLB’s home run leader started his round as a left-handed batter, hitting eight homers before switching to the other side of the plate after his timeout. He hit seven homers right-handed, then switched back to the left side for his bonus round and hit two more to tie Brent Rooker at 17. By virtue of his longest homer going 470.62 feet compared to Rooker's 470.54 feet, Raleigh moved on.

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

unior 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!

LONGEST HR: 475 feet
HARDEST HR: 117 mph
AVG. HR DISTANCE: 442 feet
AVG. HR EXIT VELO: 107.5 mph

Brent Rooker -- Eliminated
HR total: 17

Rooker started on an absolute heater, homering on his first three swings and eight out of his first nine. After hitting his eighth home run 45 seconds into the round, however, Rooker slowed down, only homering six more times before he got going again in the bonus round. Once there, Rooker smashed three more home runs, pushing his total to 17. When Rooker was hot, he was crushing home runs to the pull side, hitting six homers at least 440 feet.

LONGEST HR: 471 feet
HARDEST HR: 112 mph
AVG. HR DISTANCE: 428 feet
AVG. HR EXIT VELO: 106.1 mph

James Wood—Eliminated
HR total: 16

It took the young Nationals slugger a little while to heat up, but Wood rounded into fine form in his first Derby performance. He homered on six of his final eight swings and added two more homers in his bonus round to reach 16 in all. Wood’s second homer traveled 486 feet, the longest HR in a Home Run Derby (not counting Coors Field in 2021) since Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s 488-foot shot in the 2019 Derby.

LONGEST HR: 486 feet
HARDEST HR: 112 mph
AVG. HR DISTANCE: 435 feet
AVG. HR EXIT VELO: 106 mph