The field for the upcoming 2025 Home Run Derby underwent a late-hour change Saturday, as Matt Olson of the host Atlanta Braves was announced as a replacement for teammate Ronald Acuña Jr., who will no longer participate. Acuña, however, will still be a starting outfielder for the National League during Tuesday night’s All-Star Game. Acuña is in his comeback season from surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee, and he’s also been dealing with back tightness in recent days.
As for the 31-year-old Olson, he remains one of MLB’s leading power hitters. This season, he’s slugging .481 with 17 home runs in 92 games. He’s also not far removed from a 2023 campaign in which he led the majors with 54 home runs. At the batted-ball level, Olson in 2025 is in the 97th percentile among big-league hitters in average exit velocity and the 96th percentile in hard-hit rate.
This year’s Derby is part of All-Star week at Truist Park, the home of Olson’a Braves. The Derby is scheduled for Monday, July 14 at 7 p.m. ET. Last year, Teoscar Hernández of the Los Angeles Dodgers won the Derby. He’s not participating this year, which means we’ll have a new champion. That new champion will receive this:
Below, you’ll find the other seven contestants.
Jazz will be heard
On Thursday, Major League Baseball announced that New York Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. would be the eighth member of the Derby field.
The 27-year-old Chisholm is enjoying a strong campaign in his first full season in the Bronx. In 61 games, Chisholm is slashing .251/.346/.530 (141 OPS+) with 17 home runs. Boding well for Chisholm’s performance in the Derby is that he’s presently in the 96th percentile among big-league hitters in expected slugging percentage and 98th percentile in barrel rate, which is the percentage of batted balls that have the ideal combination of launch angle and exit velocity for power production.
Rooker is in
Athletics slugger Brent Rooker became the seventh entrant in the forthcoming Derby earlier Thursday.
Rooker, 30, has hit .270/.346/.489 (130 OPS+) with 19 home runs in his first 94 games this season. He’s on pace to record his third consecutive 30-plus homer season, having already established himself as one of just 12 players with at least 30 homers in each of the last two campaigns.
Rooker sits in the 79th percentile in average exit velocity, as well as in the 75th percentile in hard-hit percentage. His maximum exit velocity this season is 112.4 mph.
Junior a fresh face to field
Tampa Bays Rays young slugger Junior Caminero will participate in the upcoming 2025 Home Run Derby. MLB announced the news Wednesday, making him the sixth confirmed participant.
Caminero, who just turned 22 mere days ago, leads all major-league third baseman with 21 home runs this season. He’s slashing .252/.294/.496 in this, his second MLB season, and he’s not far removed from a 2023 campaign in which he hit 31 homers in 117 games across two minor-league levels.
Not surprisingly, Caminero hits the ball hard, as his max exit velocity of 116.5 mph is in 97th percentile among big-league hitters in 2025. And almost no one boasts better bat speed. Caminero’s average barrel speed of 78.0 mph is second only to that of his fellow Derby combatant Oneil Cruz.
Incoming Cruz missiles
Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Oneil Cruz, one of the hardest hitters in baseball, will take his hacks in this year’s Home Run Derby, MLB announced Tuesday.
Cruz, 26, recorded the hardest hit ball of the Statcast era (since 2015) back on May 25. The 122.9 mph missile cleared the right field bleachers at PNC Park and landed in the Allegheny River for a home run. Cruz also has the second hardest hit ball of the Statcast era. That was a 122.4 mph single back in 2022.
This season Cruz is hitting .203/.315/.402 with 15 home runs and a league-leading 28 stolen bases.
Buxton going home for Derby
Minnesota Twins star Byron Buxton, a Georgia native, will partake in the 2025 Home Run Derby. Major League Baseball made the announcement on Monday, a week before the Derby is slated to be held at Truist Park, the regular-season home of the Atlanta Braves.
Buxton, 31, is one of the most exciting players in the sport, albeit also one of its most oft-injured. In 73 games to date, he’s hit .270/.334/.544 (138 OPS+) with 20 home runs and 16 stolen bases. Fifteen of his home runs have been classified as “no doubters” by Baseball Savant’s methodology.
Buxton’s contributions have been worth more than 3 estimated Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball Reference’s calculations.
With Buxton, James Wood, Cal Raleigh, and Ronald Acuña Jr., we now know four of the eight participants in this year’s Derby.
Wood to bring lumber
Emerging Nationals superstar James Wood has joined the field for the 2025 Home Run Derby, Major League Baseball announced on Thursday. Wood just hit his one-year anniversary in the league, as he debuted July 1, 2024, and in just 165 career games, he’s made a monstrous impact.
The 6-foot-7, lefty-swinging 22 year old is hitting .283/.387/.547 (164 OPS+) with 22 home runs in 322 at-bats this season. He has prodigious power, as 12 of his 22 home runs are slotted in the “no doubters” category, per Baseball Savant.
Not that it matters much in a Home Run Derby, but Wood has hit one home run in his career in Truist Park in Atlanta, where the Derby is hosted this season.
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, the current home run leader in Major League Baseball, has been selected to participate in the 2025 Home Run Derby, as officially announced by the league on June 27. Raleigh, a switch-hitter, has already smashed 32 home runs this season and expressed his excitement about representing the Mariners and their fanbase at the Derby. The upcoming event holds special significance for Raleigh as it will take place in Atlanta, where he spent a significant amount of time playing baseball during his childhood.
Throughout the 2025 season, the 28-year-old Raleigh has made history with several remarkable home runs. He became the first catcher to reach 30 homers before the All-Star Break and the first switch-hitter to achieve this feat. With just two more home runs, Raleigh will match his single-season career high of 34 before the All-Star Game. He is also on track to surpass the single-season record for most home runs hit by a catcher, currently held by Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals, who hit 48 home runs in 2021.
Despite not leading the Atlanta Braves in home runs, outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. has been performing exceptionally well since returning from a torn ACL that ended his 2024 season prematurely. In 29 games so far, Acuña has maintained an impressive batting average of .385 with nine home runs, 16 RBIs, and four stolen bases. His contributions have already earned him an estimated 2 Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball Reference’s calculations.
Although Acuña is not the Braves’ home run leader, he is tied for fourth place in the team rankings. As a former MVP, four-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year, and three-time Silver Slugger Award winner, Acuña remains a prominent figure in the Braves’ lineup and a logical choice to represent the home market in the upcoming events. sentence to make it more concise: “I am unable to attend the meeting scheduled for tomorrow due to a prior commitment.”
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