Seattle’s Cal Raleigh becomes first catcher and switch-hitter to win Home Run Derby

ATLANTA Seattle s Cal Raleigh won his first All-Star Home Run Derby after leading the big leagues in long balls going into the break defeating Tampa Bay s Junior Caminero - in the final round Monday night The Mariners breakout slugger nicknamed Big Dumper advanced from the first round on a tiebreaker by less than an inch over the Athletics Brent Rooker then won his semifinal - over Pittsburgh s Oneil Cruz whose -foot first-round drive over Truist Park s right-center field seats was the longest of the night Hitting second in the final round the -year-old Caminero closed within three dingers took three pitches and hit a liner to left field Becoming the first switch-hitter and first catcher to win the title Raleigh had reached the All-Star break with a major league-leading home runs He became the second Mariners participant to take the title after three-time winner Ken Griffey Jr Usually the guy that s leading the league in homers doesn t win the whole thing Raleigh explained That s as surprising to me as anybody else Raleigh was pitched to by his father Todd former coach of Tennessee and Western Carolina His younger brother Todd Raleigh Jr did the catching Just to do it with my family was awesome Raleigh disclosed Just the second Derby switch-hitter after Baltimore s Adley Rutschman in Raleigh hit his first eight left-handed took a timeout then hit seven right-handed Going back to lefty he then hit two more in the bonus round and stayed lefty for the semifinals and the final Caminero beat Minnesota s Byron Buxton - in the other semifinal Atlanta s Matt Olson Washington s James Wood the New York Yankees Jazz Chisholm Jr and Rooker were eliminated in the first round of the annual power show Cruz and Caminero each hit long balls and Buxton had in the opening round Raleigh and Rooker had apiece but Raleigh advanced on the tiebreaker of their longest homer feet to One little tweak in the system and I m not even in the next round so that s crazy Raleigh explained Cruz s long drive was the hardest-hit at mph The longest derby homer since Statcast started tracking in was feet by Juan Soto in the mile-high air of Denver s Coors Field in Last year the longest drive at Arlington Texas was feet by Atlanta s Marcell Ozuna Wood hit homers including a -foot shot and one that landed on the roof of the Chop House behind the right-field wall Olson disappointing his hometown fans did not go deep on his first nine swings and finished with He also was eliminated in the first round in Chisholm hit just three homers the fewest since the timer format started in Want more Rockies news Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis