Plot Synopsis

Each year since 1985 on the Monday before its annual All-Star Game -- except in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic -- Major League Baseball hosts a home-run derby, featuring its biggest sluggers. ESPN has televised this event since 1993 -- on same-day tape delay from 1993 through 1997 and live since 1998 -- with the derby having many formats since its inception. In the derby's first year, the American League (Cal Ripken; Eddie Murray; Jim Rice; Carlton Fisk; Tom Brunansky) defeated the National League (Steve Garvey; Dave Parker; Ryne Sandberg; Will Clark; Dale Murphy), with Brunansky hitting three home runs in the final round to win the event 17-16 for the AL.
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ESPN televised the 2024 Home Run Derby on Monday, July 15, 2023 at 8pm ET/5pm PT from Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX. Karl Ravech returns as the voice of the Derby with analysts Eduardo Perez and Todd Frazier. Frazier, the 2015 Home Run Derby Champion, has called Little League World Series games for ESPN and makes his Home Run Derby analyst debut this year.

ESPN's Home Run Derby coverage includes a Statcast edition airing on ESPN2 at 8pm ET/5pm PT, with Kevin Brown, Jessica Mendoza and Mike Petriello all returning from last year's telecast.

This year, all eight sluggers -- Pete Alonso, Gunnar Henderson, Marcell Ozuna, Bobby Witt Jr., Adolis Garcia, Alec Bohm, Jose Ramirez and Teoscar Hernandez -- compete in the first round, with the top four advancing to the semifinals. The semifinals then seed each of the remaining hitters based on home run totals from the first round. In recent years, the first round was a head-to-head bracket style tournament based on seeds prior to the event.

For each at bat, each hitter sees 40 pitchers or hits for 3 minutes, whichever occurs first, during the first round and semifinals. The final round is 27 pitches or 2 minutes long, whichever comes first. Following these limits, there is an un-timed bonus period during which hitters receive pitches until they make three "outs" (non-home runs). If they hit a home run that is at least 425 feet long, they earn a fourth "out." Each hitter gets a 45-second timeout for each turn.

If there's a tie during the first round, the hitter with the longer home run advances. For ties in the semifinal and final rounds, hitters compete in a sudden-death, 60-second swing off.