The 2026 Home Run Derby is set for Monday, July 13 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, and the field is more than half full. Five sluggers have committed, with three spots still open. The event airs live on Netflix at 7 p.m. ET, with coverage beginning at 6.
This year also brings the biggest rules overhaul in more than a decade. Here’s who’s in, who’s out, and what’s changed.
Who is in the Home Run Derby? Confirmed Participants for 2026 Contest
Junior Caminero, Rays
The 2025 runner-up is back. Caminero announced via Instagram while coming off a stretch that earned him American League Player of the Week honors, piling up seven homers and 15 RBIs across six games from June 23 to 28, including a career-long 463-foot blast.
He reached the midway point slashing .292/.384/.548 with 22 home runs and 49 RBIs, roughly on pace with the 45 he hit last season. Caminero fell just short of becoming the youngest Derby winner ever a year ago, losing the final to Cal Raleigh, 18-15. He’ll start at third base for the AL in Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
Ben Rice, Yankees
Rice made it official on Instagram on July 7, and the announcement came with a story. His father Dan, a pitcher at Brown University in the 1980s who still throws batting practice to his son in the offseason, will pitch to him in the Derby.
The 27-year-old is on the verge of a career high, having already matched his 2025 home run total. He’s batting .273 with 60 RBIs through 86 games while splitting time between first base and designated hitter. A 12th-round pick who was barely a ranked prospect, Rice has become the centerpiece of New York’s lineup and is a first-time All-Star.
Ben Rice (22) hits a solo home run in the third inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn ImagesJac Caglianone, Royals
The Royals outfielder committed on July 8 after a monster June, hitting nine home runs while slashing .309/.387/.649. He recently homered six times in a five-game span.
The No. 6 pick in the 2024 draft has credited a better mental approach for the breakout. He becomes the sixth Royal to swing in the Derby, following Bo Jackson, Danny Tartabull, Mike Moustakas, Salvador Perez, and Bobby Witt Jr. No Royal has ever won it.
Willson Contreras, Red Sox
Contreras accepted MLB’s invitation days after being added to the All-Star roster as a replacement for Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who won the fan vote at first base and withdrew.
The four-time All-Star is showing more thump than at any point in his career. He reached 20 homers faster than ever before, in 87 games, and is on pace to blow past the career-high 24 he set in 2019. He entered Wednesday with four homers in his last 10 games, a stretch in which he carried a 1.263 OPS. His .926 OPS ranked second among AL first basemen. It’s his first Derby appearance in 11 big league seasons.
Jordan Walker, Cardinals
The newest addition, announced on Instagram Thursday. Walker was a top prospect when he debuted in 2023 and spent three seasons struggling to translate it. This year everything clicked.
He’s slashing .294/.355/.534 with 21 home runs and an MLB-best 70 RBIs, anchoring a surprising St. Louis club. The 6-foot-6 slugger ranks in the 98th percentile in average exit velocity and the 100th percentile in bat speed, the kind of raw power the Derby is built to showcase. He’s a first-time All-Star and a first-time participant.
No Cardinals hitter has ever won the Derby. Albert Pujols came closest, finishing runner-up in 2003.
Jordan Walker (18) reacts after hitting a single against the Seattle Mariners during the third inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn ImagesWho Isn’t Participating
Mike Trout is on the injured list with a hamstring strain and has said he’ll likely pass. It would have been a homecoming: Trout grew up in Millville, New Jersey, about 20 miles south of Philadelphia. Yordan Alvarez is skipping the event after dealing with hand injuries following last year’s Derby. Pete Crow-Armstrong told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers he’d do the Derby “someday,” but not this year.
The Format Changed
The clock is gone. After 11 straight timer-based Derbies, MLB has returned to a swing-based format resembling the pre-2015 system.
Each participant gets 20 swings in the first round and 15 in the second and third. Homer on your final swing and you keep going until a swing doesn’t leave the yard. Farthest home run breaks first-round ties, while later rounds go to three-swing swing-offs.
The competition still runs three rounds, with an open first round, head-to-head semifinals, and a final among the top four. Expect fewer home runs and more weight on every swing. It also freezes the record book. Julio Rodríguez’s 41 homers in a single round and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s 91 in a single Derby aren’t going anywhere, and Pete Alonso’s career mark of 207 is untouchable under the new rules.
Citizens Bank Park should help. Statcast rates it the fifth-best home run park in baseball.
Three Spots Left
The rest of the field will trickle out over the coming days. Kyle Schwarber told Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci he’d participate if healthy and selected to the All-Star Game, which is not in doubt. He leads baseball in home runs, has done the Derby twice, and would be swinging in front of his home crowd. Bryce Harper is a longer shot but remains possible.
James Wood and Nick Kurtz are among the other names in the conversation.
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