MLB All-Star Week is set to continue on Monday night as eight of the league’s hardest-hitting batters take part in the 2024 Home Run Derby in Globe Life Field at 7 p.m.
This year’s Home Run Derby will shift away from the total knockout style used in the 2023 derby, in which players were matched up in a bracket format and had to win multiple head-to-head matchups against other players, according to MLB.com.
Instead, this year’s competition will consist of all eight players taking swings in the first round. The four highest scorers will advance to the semifinals, where the derby will shift back to the one-on-one matchups used last year.
Additionally, the league added a maximum number of pitches that each batter is allowed to see in every round. The first round and semifinals are concluded for each batter when they either reach the three-minute mark or face 40 pitches.
The finals will also end when the batter either reaches the two-minute mark or faces a total of 27 pitches.
Batters will step to the plate in the order of whoever has hit the most total home runs thus far in the 2024 season.
The first batter in the 2024 Home Run Derby will be Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson, followed by Atlanta Braves outfielder Marcell Ozuna, Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez, New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, Los Angeles Dodger outfielder Teoscar Hernández, Texas Rangers outfielder Adolis García, Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr, and Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm.
Witt enters the derby with the longest home run of all the competitors so far this season after hitting a bomb that traveled 468 feet earlier this year, which is more than 20 feet longer than any home run hit by another batter in the lineup.
Although he was not named to the 2024 All-Star Team, García will represent the Rangers as the team’s second-leading home run hitter behind shortstop Corey Seager.
García has hit 17 home runs through the Rangers’ first 91 games this season while also picking up 15 doubles and 45 RBIs.
Both the longest and hardest hit home run clocked by Garcia so far in the 2024 season came from a 428-foot bomb on April 1 against the Tampa Bay Rays that had an exit velocity of 110.1 mph, per MLB.com.
MLB All-Star Week will continue on Tuesday with the All-Star game beginning at 7 p.m. featuring Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien and closer Kirby Yates, along with Seager, who was added to the roster as a late addition to replace Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa.
