The Home Run Derby record book is about to be sealed shut. With MLB eliminating the timer for 2026 and capping hitters at 20 swings in the opening round, the marks below were almost certainly set for good.
Here’s what stands, and why nobody’s touching it.
Home Run Derby Records: Most Home Runs Hit in a Single Round, Year and Career
Most Home Runs in a Single Round: 41
Julio Rodríguez, 2023
Rodríguez hit 41 in the opening round at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, in front of his home crowd, dispatching two-time champion Pete Alonso, who managed 21.
He needed 59 swings to do it, converting at a 69.5 percent clip. Thirty-two came in regulation, nine more in bonus time.
The performance broke Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s mark of 40, set in the second round at Cleveland’s Progressive Field in 2019. And it cost Rodríguez the Derby. He managed only 20 in the semifinals, losing to Guerrero by a single home run. “It felt like your mind is there, but your body isn’t,” he said afterward.
Under the 2026 format, a hitter gets 20 swings in Round 1. Even homering on every one, plus extending on a final-swing streak, 41 is unreachable.
Jul 12, 2021; Denver, CO, USA; New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso hits during the 2021 MLB Home Run Derby. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY SportsMost Home Runs in a Single Derby: 91
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 2019
Guerrero’s 2019 performance in Cleveland remains the most staggering in Derby history, and he didn’t even win.
He hit 29 in the first round, then 40 in the second across two tiebreakers against Joc Pederson, before falling to Alonso 23-22 in the final. His 91 total home runs shattered Giancarlo Stanton’s previous mark of 61, set in 2016.
Rodríguez’s 81 in 2022 stands second, another runner-up finish.
Most Career Derby Home Runs: Pete Alonso
Alonso holds the career mark since the event began in 1985.
Through the 2024 Derby, he had 207. He has competed every year since 2019, becoming the first player to appear in five straight competitions, and he won it twice, in 2019 and 2021.
Only five players have made more Derby appearances: Ken Griffey Jr. with eight, Mark McGwire with seven, and Barry Bonds, Prince Fielder, and Sammy Sosa with six apiece.
Most Home Runs in a First Round: 35
Pete Alonso, 2021
Alonso’s second title run may have been his most impressive. He opened with 35 home runs, four of which traveled at least 508 feet, then beat Trey Mancini 23-22 in the final.
Note the distinction. Rodríguez’s 41 came in a first round too, and stands as the overall single-round record. Alonso’s 35 was the first-round record until J-Rod passed it.
(Photo by Getty Images)Most Derby Titles: 3
Ken Griffey Jr.
Griffey won in 1994, 1998, and 1999, and remains the only three-time champion.
Alonso has chased that a third title since 2021 and hasn’t gotten there. Only three players have won consecutive Derbies: Griffey, Yoenis Céspedes (2013-14), and Alonso (2019, 2021, with no event held in 2020).
The Legendary Round That Didn’t Win
Josh Hamilton, 2008
Hamilton’s 28 home runs in the first round at Yankee Stadium included 13 consecutive homers and seven that traveled beyond 500 feet. It’s widely regarded as the greatest single round in Derby history.
He lost. Justin Morneau won the 2008 Derby.
Hamilton’s round came under the old out-based format, where only non-homers counted against a hitter. That system produced lower raw totals than the subsequent timed era, which is why the numbers above cluster in recent years.
Why These Records Are Now Frozen
Every mark on this list was set during the timed era, between 2015 and 2025, when hitters swung as fast as they could against a clock.
The 2026 format hands each player 20 swings in Round 1 and 15 in each knockout round. Homer on your last swing and you continue until you miss, the only way to exceed the allotment.
Rodríguez took 59 swings for his 41. Guerrero needed multiple tiebreakers to reach 91. Neither is possible now.
Barring another rule change, this record book is closed.
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