Following Monday’s Home Run Derby, Pete Alonso is still the reigning, defending, undisputed champion of baseball’s most exciting night of the year. Alonso bested Trey Mancini in the final round to earn the title for the second straight contest.
The night was filled with fireworks and upsets. The 2021 Home Run Derby did not disappoint, thanks to some of the best power hitters in baseball. Juan Soto defeated Shohei Ohtani in the first round, and there were over 300 bombs hit at Coors.
309 Home Runs
There were 309 home runs hit throughout the night by the eight contestants. This was not a record, but it was close. In 2019, there were 312 bombs hit thanks to Pete Alonso and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Before 2018, the record was 221. This year, players were given less time in every round, but if the format were the same as 2019, the record would have been shattered.
138,765 Feet
The ball flies out of Coors. That was proven in the 2021 Home Run Derby. The 309 homers that were hit combined for 138,765 feet. When this number is converted to miles, it surpassed a marathon (26.28 miles).
520 Feet
Aaron Judge held the Home Run Derby record for the longest bomb at 513 feet, according to Statcast. However, this record was shattered thanks to three sluggers from the 2021 event.
Alonso (514), Trevor Story (518), and Juan Soto (520) broke Judge’s record. Soto will hold the new mark, and it should be challenging to beat in the future.
Soto upset Ohtani in the first round when he broke Judge’s record. The record homer left the yard at 114 miles per hour.
2 Home Run Derby Titles
Pete Alonso became the fourth player in Major League Baseball history to win multiple Home Run Derby events. The Polar Bear is only 26 years old, so he will likely continue claiming derby victories before his big-league career is over.
On Tuesday, Alonso proved that he was meant for the competition joining Ken Griffey Jr. (3x), Yoenis Cespedes (2x), and Prince Fielder (2x) as the multi-time champions. Alonso, Griffey, and Cespedes are the only athletes to go back-to-back in the derby.
74 Home Runs
Alonso belted 74 bombs en route to his 2021 Home Run Derby victory. Alonso started the evening with 35 homers against Salvador Perez and 16 versus Juan Soto in the semifinals.
Alonso finished off the night by burying Mancini with 23 long balls. Even though 74 home runs is a lot, it’s nothing like Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s outing in 2019, when he hit 91 homers. This is the overall record for homers in a derby.
Unfortunately for Guerrero, the work did not mean a thing in 2019 because he was defeated by Alonso. The league wanted to see the rematch in this year’s event, but Guerrero elected to take the night off from the derby.
$1 Million
Alonso is not eligible for arbitration until 2022, and he will not hit free agency until 2025. Players in this situation usually do not have the best salaries relative to players with more service time. However, Alonso has taken his pay into his own hands.
The two-time champ will receive $1 million for winning in 2021. This is a nice bonus, considering his salary is just over 67% of this total.
