Hernandez outslugs Witt to become 1st Dodger to win HR Derby crown
ARLINGTON, Texas -- In the annals of their long history, no Los Angeles Dodgers player had ever won the Home Run Derby.
Teoscar Hernandez changed that Monday night.
The 31-year-old Hernandez outlasted Kansas City star Bobby Witt Jr., surviving a wall-scraping effort on his final swing by Witt to win the finals, 14-13.
Hernandez signed a one-year free agent contract with the Dodgres this winter and proved himself a vital figure in a lineup that includes stars Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. And a year after his friend and former teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. won his first Derby crown, Hernandez became the seventh player from the Dominican Republic to earn the title.
The new format at the event, which limited the number of pitches participants could see in each round, did little early on to animate the Globe Life Field crowd of 38,578. Then came the finals, when Witt nearly overcame a torrid start from Hernandez to win the Derby -- and fell short by perhaps a foot.
Witt, 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 do the same again Monday. In the 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. Witt ended his round with 11.
He hit two home runs in the bonus time, including one over 425 feet that gave him an extra out. And he nearly tied it on his final swing, but the ball caromed off the fence in center field, sending Hernandez to the win and $1 million prize.
Hernandez had survived a swing-off in the semifinals with Alec Bohm, the Philadelphia third baseman who hit the most home runs in a single round with 21 of the 40 pitches he saw in the first round.
Bohm advanced along with Witt, Hernandez and Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez. Two-time Derby champion Pete Alonso bowed out in the first round, hitting only 12 home runs, as did Atlanta's Marcell Ozuna, Baltimore's Gunnar Henderson and hometown favorite Adolis Garcia of the Texas Rangers.
In the semifinals, Witt rebounded from a slow start to finish with 17 home runs, leaving Ramirez a window to advance to the finals. He stumbled at the beginning of his round, too, and never recovered, finishing with 12 home runs and going homerless with his bonus balls.
Before the final moments, the most intrigue came in the other semifinal, when Hernandez beat Bohm in a swing-off after they had finished their rounds tied at 14.
Hernandez homered on his second and third balls in the swing-off. Bohm hit one out to left field on the second pitch but his third swing landed softly in the outfield grass, sending the 31-year-old two-time All-Star to the final - and, eventually, the crown as Home Run Derby champion.