The 2023 T-Mobile Home Run Derby will take place at T-Mobile Park in Seattle on July 10, at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. Which sluggers will be taking aim at the Derby crown on the eve of the 93rd MLB All-Star Game?
Here’s a running list of players who are officially participating in the event, and more sluggers will be added as they join:
It’s only fitting that J-Rod be the first to officially enter this year’s Home Run Derby, since it will be held at his home ballpark. Rodríguez electrified the Dodger Stadium crowd and the wider baseball world during last year’s competition, smashing a combined 81 homers over three rounds, second only to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s 91 in the 2019 Derby for most all-time. Though Rodríguez finished runner-up to Juan Soto last year, he gave us a glimpse at what we could see from him in future Derbies, especially this year’s in Seattle.
Guerrero put on a show in his Derby debut during his rookie season in 2019, setting still-standing event records for most home runs in a round (40) and most in an entire Derby (91) — records so impressive that you might have forgotten that Pete Alonso was actually the winner that year. Guerrero has been absent from the event since then, but that is about to change, as the 2023 AL leader in hard-hit balls (via Statcast) will take the big stage again. If Guerrero wins the event, he and his father (who won in 2007) would become the first father-son duo to do so.
Unlike Rodríguez and Guerrero, Betts will be making his Home Run Derby debut, which might come as a surprise given that 2023 is his seventh consecutive All-Star season (excluding 2020, when there was no game). As for what compelled him to enter the event for the first time so deep into his career and fulfill the baseball world’s wishes, you have his wife to thank, as Betts explained to MLB.com’s Juan Toribio. Betts may be an underdog given his 5-foot-9 stature, but he is on pace for his first career 40-homer season this year. Plus, when someone has won two World Series, one AL MVP, and been a five-time Silver Slugger Award winner, it’s often not wise to bet against him.
This will be Alonso’s fourth Derby in his five years in the big leagues, winning the contest in 2019 and ‘21. Alonso has the chance to join Ken Griffey Jr. as the only three-time winners.
In his first Derby in 2019, Alonso became the second rookie to win it since Aaron Judge in ‘17, and the first Met to be an outright winner of the contest by defeating Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the finals; Darryl Strawberry shared the title with Wally Joyner in 1986.
