Players with a mix of strength and endurance, in the form of max exit velocity and age are built to win the Home Run Derby.īy the criteria put forth above, just three players, Pete Alonso, Ronald Acuña Jr. Playerįive out of the last six Home Run Derby winners have been 26 years old or younger. It is hard to quantify stamina, but the basic assumption is that the younger players have fresher bodies and longer stamina. It’s easy to get burnt out in the first and second rounds and not have enough gas in the tank to finish strong and win. Players have three minutes with one timeout throughout the round, which creates a rapid-fire scenario. The addition of a time limit instead of the traditional outs system increased the pace of the Home Run Derby. Todd Frazier is the only exception as he won in 2015 with a max exit velocity of 110.5 MPH, but I don’t foresee a player with that low of a max exit velocity winning any time soon. and Trey Mancini all had max exit velocities over 114 MPH. Even second-place finishers Joc Pederson, Miguel Sano, Kyle Schwarber, Vlad Guerrero Jr. There has not been a Home Run Derby winner since 2016 with a max exit velocity below 115 MPH. Max Exit Velocity from past HR Derby Winners

Below are the winners of the HR Derby since 2015 and their max exit velocity from that season. Max Exit VelocityĪs exit velocity increases, potential home run distance also increases, which gives hitters a better chance to hit home runs even on slight mishits.

The rapid fire nature of the competition also adds an element of stamina.įor example, Josh Hamilton hit 28 home runs in a single round in the 2008 Home Run Derby, but actually lost the competition to Justin Morneau as Hamilton was gassed from his historic round. Players that can hit the ball as hard as possible will be able to hit the ball further and likely hit more home runs. The Home Run Derby can be unpredictable due to the noise surrounding the round based event, but two traits, max exit velocity and stamina, separate past winners from the field.

Home run derby participants 2021