The Home Run Derby is one of the premier events of the Major League Baseball season and the eight players participating in the 2023 edition did not disappoint. Toronto Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. came away with the victory, but it was the hometown hero Julio Rodriguez who stole the show in front of an electric Seattle crowd.

Rodriguez was ousted by Guerrero in the second round, but the former broke the latter's single-round Derby record with 41 longballs in the first round. Guerrero said he knew Rodriguez was going to do something special.

“I knew he was going to do that,” Guerrero said. “We talked before, and you could tell that he really wanted to win. I mean, he put a lot of work in this. But, you know, it happened.”

Rodriguez was trying to become the fourth player to win the Home Run Derby at his home ballpark but he ran out of steam in the second round, settling for 20 home runs. He and finalist Randy Arozarena were the only players to eclipse 30 home runs in a single round, only for both of them to lose to the Blue Jays slugger.

The new timer-era of the Derby has brought slugfest after slugfest with the number of dingers seemingly increasing every year. Guerrero and Rodriguez are now second and third on the all-time Derby list behind Pete Alonso, who Rodriguez put his 41 up against.

In typical Derby fashion, the player who put on a show did not end up the champion. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. set the single-Derby record with 91 as a Blue Jays rookie in 2019, only to lose to Alonso in the final. Rodriguez set a record in 2023, but it's the Blue Jays phenom who got the last laugh, joining his father as the first father-son Derby champion duo.