Major League Baseball is abandoning the timer for the Home Run Derby, report Evan Drellich and Johnny Flores Jr. of The Athletic. They’ll move back to a swings format for the first time in more than a decade. MLB has not officially announced the news.
According to The Athletic, hitters will have 20 swings in the first round and 15 swings for the semifinal and final rounds. However, the round cannot end on a home run. If the contestant homers on his 20th swing of the first round, for instance, he’ll get to continue adding to his total until a swing results in a non-homer.
While not exactly a return to the original Derby setup, it’s the most significant change to the format since 2015. The scoring was initially determined by “outs,” any swing that didn’t result in a home run. MLB switched to a timer for the ’15 event, seemingly an effort to keep things moving. The old format allowed hitters to be extremely selective in deciding when to swing. The timer placed more of an emphasis on hitters swinging at every reasonable offering — which also put more scrutiny on the pitcher, who couldn’t afford to miss the heart of the plate too often.
Some hitters struggled with the timer, feeling the pressure to swing took too much of a physical toll. They did get one timeout but had to swing at almost everything as the clock ran down. The swing counter strikes more of a balance, giving them chances to take pitches but counting all swings except the final one against the tally even if they clear the fence.
There’ll still be eight players in this year’s Derby. The first round will simply advance whichever four hitters connect on the most longballs, with ties still broken by the longest homer. They’ll move to a matchup format for the semifinal and final, and ties in those rounds will be broken by a three-swing tiebreaker. MLB used a swing-off to break the tie in last year’s All-Star Game to great effect.
This year’s All-Star festivities will be held at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park. The Derby broadcast will be carried by Netflix, the first time it’s not on ESPN since 1993. Drellich and Flores write that Netflix played a role in the changed format. Cal Raleigh is the defending champion after beating Junior Caminero at Truist Park last year. The winner is awarded $1MM. The runner-up receives $500K, while everyone else gets $150K. The player who hits the longest home run is paid $100K.
