The Home Run Derby no longer consistently draws the best sluggers in baseball. While there are obvious exceptions like Pete Alonso, it seems that blowing off the competition is as much a rite of passage for the modern MLB superstar as making an appearance.
The game’s top home run hitters in 2024, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, chose not to participate, as did former Derby winners Bryce Harper and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The New York Yankees' Juan Soto is another big name passing on this year’s event.
While skipping the Derby has become the norm for baseball’s top power hitters, Soto appears to have seriously considered participating in the contest. “We analyzed that with my agent [Scott Boras] and everyone,” Soto explained, according to Jorge Castillo of ESPN. “I thought about it, but in the end I decided to not do it.”
Instead of chasing personal glory, Soto is focused on the Yankees and a postseason run. “We're in a very important season for the team and we have a good future, and I think the best thing is to try to rest, play in the All-Star Game, enjoy the show and try to come in the second half and try to play in as many games as possible to be able to take the team to the playoffs,” he said per ESPN.
Soto will welcome some extra rest after playing through inflammation in his forearm and a banged up hand. Despite the ailments and the first-half grind, he’s only missed four games so far this season. But Soto appears to realize it’s going to require maximum effort for the Yankees to overtake the Baltimore Orioles and hold off the Boston Red Sox in a stacked AL East. And the Home Run Derby can be a taxing event.
The seven-year veteran did participate in the Derby in 2022, when he won the competition. Soto edged out Jose Ramirez, Albert Pujols and runner-up Julio Rodriguez en route to becoming the second youngest winner in the event’s history.
Juan Soto explains his absence from the Home Run Derby
However, the second half of 2022 was not the former batting champ’s best stretch. After a deadline deal sent him to the San Diego Padres, Soto only managed six home runs and 16 RBI in 52 games, batting .236 and slugging .390 – well off his career averages of .285 and .528 respectively.
Soto did not indicate whether he believed the Home Run Derby affected his swing in the second half of the season but some players, like Alex Rodriguez, have noted the Derby’s impact on their timing as a reason for skipping the contest.
The New York Mets’ Pete Alonso is not one of those players as the slugger believes the Derby helps to lock him in for the second half. Alonso will appear in his fifth-straight Derby this year. He’s won two and has a chance to tie Ken Griffey Jr. with a record three Derby victories.
Griffey Jr. participated in the event a record eight times from 1990-2000. His first Derby win came in 1994 but his most memorable appearance came the year prior when he crushed a homer off the warehouse across from Camden Yards. The backwards-hat look and the epic shot made Griffey Jr. an instant Home Run Derby legend.
Alonso won the event in 2019 and then again in 2021 after the COVID pandemic forced the festivities to be canceled in 2020. With his most recent victory he joined Griffey Jr. (1998 & ’99) and Yoenis Cespedes (2013 & ‘14) as the only players with back-to-back Derby wins.
This year’s event features a strong lineup. The eight contestants for 2024 include Derby veterans Alonso, Adolis Garcia and Jose Ramirez. They’ll be joined by newcomers Alec Bohm, Gunnar Henderson, Teoscar Hernandez, Marcell Ozuna and Bobby Witt Jr.
Despite sitting out the contest this year, Juan Soto will be at Globe Life Field in Arlington having made his fourth career All-Star game. He enters the break with 23 home runs, 66 RBI and a MLB-leading 79 walks to go along with a .985 OPS and 5 WAR in 94 games this season.
Follow Us
Subscribe
