Hernández becomes 1st Dodger to win Derby title

ARLINGTON, Texas — When the final swing of the 2024 Home Run Derby launched a ball into the night at Globe Life Field, Bobby Witt Jr. narrowed his eyes and Teoscar Hernández held his breath. An otherwise unremarkable Derby was suddenly careening toward a dramatic ending — one that would come down to a matter of feet.

The ball off Witt’s bat ultimately caromed off the base of the center-field fence, prompting a sigh of disappointment from him and a triumphant thrust of Hernández’s arms into the air. In the Derby finals, Hernández defeated Witt by the narrowest of margins: 14 home runs to 13, just as he’d survived a swing-off to win by one homer in the semifinals.

The 31-year-old Hernández, a widely beloved teammate and consistent power source over the past decade, became the first Los Angeles Dodgers player to win the Derby. He took home a $1 million prize, a medallion that said “DERBY CHAMP” and the pride of standing in against perhaps baseball’s best young star and more than matching him swing for swing.

“It doesn’t matter who I’m going against. I’m going to bet on myself,” said Hernández, who entered the Derby with the sixth-longest odds of the eight-man field. “People maybe underestimate me. You can see it at the end when Witt was hitting all those homers. Everybody was shooting for him. But I’m [as] talented as all those guys over there. They might be younger, but same talent.”

Witt, the Kansas City Royals shortstop who grew up 20 minutes from Globe Life Field, won the High School Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game in Washington, D.C, six years ago and looked primed to take another Derby title Monday. In the event’s new format, players could see a maximum of 40 pitches over three minutes, then could hit as many home runs as possible before missing three in a bonus round. In the final, the time was reduced to two minutes and the pitches 27.

Participating in his first Derby, Hernández became the seventh player from the Dominican Republic to win the event. He had gotten hot in the middle of his final round and built a strong advantage on Witt, who struggled to start his round.

By the end, Witt hit 11 home runs and earned an extra out in bonus time by hitting a ball over 425 feet.

“I was nervous,” Hernández said.

The nerves were understandable, particularly on the last swing. With his brother-in-law James Russell — a former Chicago Cubs reliever — throwing to him, Witt hammered a ball toward center field.

Though it’s generally a dead zone for home run contests, Witt struck it well enough to convince many of the 38,578 in attendance that he had tied Hernández.

“I thought I had a chance when I hit it,” Witt said, “but I saw it was just a little bit too high.”

Hernández celebrated with his former teammate and 2023 Derby champion, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who was wearing Hernández’s jersey from their days with the Toronto Blue Jays. It’s where Hernández developed into the sort of power threat the Dodgers coveted this winter and signed to a one-year free agent contract to join Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman in Los Angeles’ powerful lineup.

Hernández will start in center field for the National League on Tuesday and was invited as part of a field that lacked the star power of Derbies in the past decade won by the likes of Aaron Judge, Bryce Harper and Juan Soto. Hernández barely advanced to the semifinals, finishing behind Philadelphia third baseman Alec Bohm, Cleveland third baseman Jose Ramirez and Witt in the first round. Two-time Derby champion Pete Alonso bowed out, hitting only 12 home runs, as did Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna, Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson and hometown favorite Adolis Garcia of the Texas Rangers, who finished one home run behind Hernandez’s 19.

In the semifinals, Hernández and Bohm tied with 14 home runs over their allotted 40 pitches and bonus time. Hernández benefited from the pinpoint pitching of Dodgers coach Dino Ebel, a veteran of multiple past Home Run Derby contests, in the three-swing winner-takes-all overtime.

Hernández homered on his second and third cuts. Bohm hit one out to left field on the second pitch, but his third swing landed softly in the outfield grass.

“I do this every day,” Ebel said. “That’s my job. I always joke around with the players: My job is to get lit up in batting practice. I just got to know where they like it.”

Awaiting him was Witt, who has long admired Hernández and his abilities as a well-rounded hitter who happens to possess game-changing power, too.

“I knew every time he playing he’s got crazy juice to all parts of field,” Witt said. “So, it was cool to see him do that.”

Plenty of others concurred. On a night without any long home runs — Ozuna hit the farthest at 473 feet — or rounds with big totals, the end kept everyone on edge.

And it set up the potential return of Guerrero next year, provided his friend — the new champion — looks for a repeat.

“If Teoscar does it,” Guerrero told ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez, “I’m in.”

Source: www.espn.com