Matchups set for 2021 T-Mobile Home Run Derby
Jul 8, 2021, 10:05 AM
Major League Baseball home run leader Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels, defending champion Pete Alonso of the New York Mets and Trevor Story of the host Colorado Rockies are among the eight participants in the 2021 T-Mobile Home Run Derby, which will be held on Monday, July 12th at Coors Field in Denver, CO and broadcast live by ESPN and MLB.com beginning at 8:00 p.m. (ET)/6:00 p.m. (MT). The matchups were officially announced earlier this evening on ESPN’s Home Run Derby Bracket Show.
The Derby also features Joey Gallo of the Texas Rangers, Trey Mancini of the Baltimore Orioles, Matt Olson of the Oakland Athletics, AL starting catcher Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals and Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals.
In the opening round, the top-seeded Ohtani (31 home runs through Tuesday) will square off against the number eight seed Soto (10 home runs); Gallo (21 home runs) will be the two seed and face the seventh-seeded Story (11 home runs); Olson (20 home runs), the number three seed, will take on the number six seed Mancini (15 home runs); and the fourth-seeded Perez (20 home runs) will meet the number five seed Alonso (15 home runs). Seeding was determined by each participant’s home run total through Tuesday’s games. Ties were broken by awarding the higher seed to the player with a higher home run total in 2020, however, since Mancini did not play in 2020, the tie between him and Alonso was broken using 2019 home run totals. See the accompanying file for the full 2021 T-Mobile Home Run Derby bracket.
Ohtani, who became the first player ever selected an All-Star as both a position player and a pitcher, will compete in his first derby and become the first Japanese-born player to participate, as well as the first hitter who has also started a game on the mound. Overall, he will become just the seventh Angels player to participate in the Derby, joining 1986 co-winner Wally Joyner; Troy Glaus (2001); 2003 winner Garret Anderson; Hall of Famer and 2007 winner Vladimir Guerrero; Mark Trumbo (2012); and former teammate Albert Pujols (2015).
Gallo will take part in his first Derby and will be the 10th different Rangers player to compete, joining 1989 co-winner Ruben Sierra; 1993 winner Juan Gonzalez; Hall of Famer Iván Rodríguez (2000); Alex Rodriguez (2001-02); Hank Blalock (2004); Mark Teixeira (2005); Josh Hamilton (2008); Nelson Cruz (2009); and former teammate Prince Fielder (2015).
Olson will give the A’s a representative for the second consecutive Derby, and he will be the ninth different A’s player overall in the event, joining Jose Canseco (1986, 1990); 1992 winner Mark McGwire (also 1987, 1990, 1996-97); Sierra (1994); John Jaha (1999); Jason Giambi (2001); two-time winner Yoenis Céspedes (2013-14); Josh Donaldson (2014); and teammate Matt Chapman (2019).
Perez will also be participating for a first time and is set to become just the fourth Royals player to be featured in the Derby, joining Bo Jackson (1989); Danny Tartabull (1991); and former teammate Mike Moustakas (2017). Additionally, Perez will attempt to become the first catcher to win the event and will be just the ninth catcher overall to compete, joining Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk (1985); Ozzie Virgil (1987); Mickey Tettleton (1989); Hall of Famer Mike Piazza (1993-94); Javy Lopez (1998); I. Rodríguez (2000, 2005); Joe Mauer (2009); and Gary Sánchez (2017).
Alonso, who is bidding to join Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. (1998-99) and Céspedes (2013-14) as the only back-to-back champions, is the only hitter in the field with Derby experience following his win in 2019 at Cleveland. Alonso remains one of five Mets players to partake in the Derby, joining 1986 co-winner Darryl Strawberry (also 1990); Howard Johnson (1989, 1991); Bobby Bonilla (1993); and David Wright (2006, 2013).
Mancini, appearing in his first, Derby will become the 11th different Orioles player to compete, tying the Blue Jays for the most-ever by an AL team. Additionally, Mancini’s inclusion will be the 16th time that an Orioles hitter is in the Derby, tying Toronto for the most among all Major League Clubs. Among Baltimore participants, the 29-year-old, who missed the entire 2020 season while battling colon cancer, will join Hall of Famer Eddie Murray (1985); Hall of Famer and 1991 winner Cal Ripken Jr. (also 1985, 1992); Brady Anderson (1996-97); Rafael Palmeiro (1998, 2004); B.J. Surhoff (1999); 2004 winner Miguel Tejada (also 2006); teammate Chris Davis (2013); and former teammates Adam Jones (2014), Manny Machado (2015) and Trumbo (2016).
Story, bidding to become the first winner in Rockies history, will make Colorado the first team to have 12 different players participate in the Derby, spanning 14 total appearances. He will join Dante Bichette (1994); Ellis Burks (1996); Hall of Famer Larry Walker (1997, 1999); Vinny Castilla (1998); Todd Helton (2001); Matt Holliday (2008); Carlos González (2012, 2016); Michael Cuddyer (2013); Troy Tulowitzki (2014); Justin Morneau (2014); and teammate Charlie Blackmon (2017). Additionally, Story will become the 24th player from a host team to participate in the Derby. Overall, it marks the eighth consecutive Derby to feature a hometown competitor. The others include David Wright at Citi Field in New York in 2013; Brian Dozier at Target Field in Minnesota in 2014; Todd Frazier at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati in 2015; Wil Myers at Petco Park in San Diego in 2016; Justin Bour and Giancarlo Stanton at Marlins Park in Miami in 2017; Bryce Harper at Nationals Park in Washington DC in 2018; and Carlos Santana at Progressive Field in Cleveland in 2019.
Soto will make his first career Derby appearance and will be just the second player in Nationals history to participate in the event, joining Harper (2013, 2018).
The T-Mobile Home Run Derby Bracket Challenge is back giving fans a chance to predict the results of the Derby at Coors Field. Beginning today, fans can enter at mlb.com/bracket. One perfect bracket will win $100,000 with additional prizes including a new T-Mobile device and one (1) year of T-Mobile service. Fans can submit their picks through 7:59 p.m. (ET) on July 12th.
ESPN will exclusively televise the T-Mobile Home Run Derby on Monday, July 12th at 8:00 p.m. (ET). Additionally, ESPN2 will offer a Statcast-driven alternate viewing experience for the Derby alongside the traditional telecast. The Derby is also available on ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes and the ESPN App. For more information, please visit www.allstargame.com.
