There’s always that one Derby moment that lives on beyond the dingers — and this year, it came before Cal Raleigh even took a swing. Out he came, walking toward the cage with his dad hauling the bucket of BP balls and his younger brother, full catcher’s gear and all, trailing behind. It felt less like a Home Run Derby and more like a backyard family tradition that just happened to break out in front of 40,000 fans.

Truist Park was already rocking, but when Raleigh started launching balls into the Atlanta night, it felt like a Game 7. When he finally sent his 54th homer deep into the Chop House, it was clear: this wasn’t just a fun showing from a fan favorite — this was history. The Mariners catcher, affectionately known as “Big Dumper,” became the first catcher and first switch-hitter to win a Derby outright.

Round 1: An Inch‑Long Escape

Raleigh didn’t exactly ease his way into the Derby. His first round was a full-on stress test — and not just for him. After a few minutes of left-handed bombs, a well-timed timeout, and a switch to right-handed hacks, he wrapped up the round with 17 homers on the board. Not bad, but definitely beatable.

Then came Oakland’s Brent Rooker, who went toe-to-toe with him swing for swing. Rooker matched the 17, but the Derby’s tiebreaker rules don’t allow swing-offs in the opening round. Instead, it came down to the longest single home run.

And here’s where it got ridiculous: Raleigh’s longest blast? 470.61 feet. Rooker’s? 470.53 feet. That’s less than an inch—0.08 feet, to be exact—that separated Raleigh from elimination. It was the kind of stat you double-check just to make sure it’s not a typo.

The crowd didn’t need the scoreboard to realize what had just happened. The tension cracked into a roar, and suddenly, it felt like everyone was pulling for the guy who just escaped by a literal eyelash. Raleigh himself took it in stride, joking later, “I thought, well, that was close. Let’s not do that again.”

It was a near-exit that flipped the whole energy inside Truist Park. And for Raleigh, it was a reminder that you can’t take a single swing for granted—even in a glorified BP session.

Semifinal Showtime: Cruz Control Meets Dumper Power

If Round 1 was all about squeaking by on decimals, the semifinals was all about raw power. And nobody brought louder swings to Atlanta than Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz.

Every swing sounded like a cannon blast, and early in the round he let one absolutely fly — a Statcast-approved 513-foot moonshot that sailed into the right-center concourse. That tied Aaron Judge’s 2017 shot as the longest Derby homer outside of the Denver altitude. Even players on the field had phones out. This was Cruz in full showman mode.

He wrapped up the first round with 21 total homers and, absurdly, owned all five of the night’s longest bombs to that point. His average distance was a ridiculous 447 feet. He looked like he was going to cruise into the finals.

But here’s the thing about the Derby: it doesn’t just reward power. You’ve got to find rhythm, manage your energy, and hit the zone pitch after pitch. And Cruz — despite all the raw juice — just couldn’t settle into a groove in the semis. He seemed rushed, maybe even gassed, and the swings started to lose that crisp snap. He finished with just 13 homers.

Raleigh, meanwhile, stayed locked in. He went back to hitting exclusively lefty and kept the same steady tempo he’d had in Round 1. No stress, no over-swinging — just a steady performance that ended with 19 home runs and a ticket to the finals.

Final Round: Caminero and One Very Helpful Ballboy

Tampa Bay rookie Junior Caminero had the kind of night that makes scouts sit up in their chairs — 21 bombs in the opener, then eight more in barely 60 seconds to knock out Byron Buxton in the semis. He looked like he might steal the show. But the final round brought one of the weirdest, most talked-about moments of the entire night.

Cal Raleigh batted first and laid down a strong 18-homer challenge. Caminero started hot in response — but somewhere in that second minute, ripped a low liner to left that was clearly heading out. But just before it could clear the wall, a teenage ballboy — 17-year-old Sam Musterer — jumped up and snagged it out of the air like it was nothing.

The kid caught it clean. Like, perfectly clean. And the fact that the initial reaction from the broadcast was anything less than celebratory was truly baffling.

One of the announcers said, “That’s not what you’re out there for,” like the kid had committed some crime. But come on — if we celebrate professional outfielders for robbing home runs on national TV, we can sure as hell appreciate a teenager doing it at the Derby. That moment is the kind of thing you dream about the night before. It’s the kind of story he’s going to tell for the next 70 years. The skill it took alone deserved props, but even more than that, the joy of it — the pure "I can’t believe I just did that" energy — was everything this event is supposed to be about. Instead, the kid was left wondering if he had just done something wrong. 

And let’s be real — it’s 2025. MLB has the tech to track the ball’s arc and verify whether it would’ve left the yard. They did exactly that. The umpires confirmed and Caminero still got credit for the homer. No harm done.

That catch didn’t just make headlines—it might’ve rattled Caminero a bit, too. After the moment, his rhythm dipped. He tried to push through, but it looked like he started rushing toward the end of his timed round, trying to muscle through pitches instead of staying smooth. It even seemed like he lost track of time—he actually stopped swinging with a few seconds still left on the clock. Whether it was nerves, confusion, or just the awkward momentum shift, something clearly threw him off his game.

Caminero wrapped up the final with 15 home runs, just three shy of Raleigh’s mark. And when the final buzzer sounded, Truist Park erupted. Raleigh threw both arms in the air, and his dad sprinted in for a hug. It was the perfect ending to a night that was about more than just distance and numbers.

The Rest of the Madness

1. Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s Three‑Homer Face‑Plant

Every Derby needs a dud, and unfortunately for the Yankees’ neon‑bat‑swinging star, this year it was Jazz Chisholm Jr. He walked up with swagger, but left with just three homers — the lowest total we’ve seen since the clock format came into play back in 2015. His swings didn’t look terrible, but they didn’t carry. It was one of those performances where the clock felt like it was speeding up while the swings were slowing down.

Afterward, Chisholm did his best to brush it off. He said it wouldn’t mess with his mechanics going forward and chalked the whole thing up to nerves. You have to respect the honesty. Still, for a guy who was hyped as a wildcard X-factor with flair, it ended up being more fizzle than fireworks.

2. Cody Rhodes Cuts a Promo

Who had "The American Nightmare shows up mid-Derby with a glitter belt" on their bingo card? Former WWE champ Cody Rhodes made a full-on wrestling-style entrance on the warning track between rounds — theme song blaring and all — to present a custom WWE title to the eventual Derby champ.

3. ESPN’s Split‑Screen Saga

Twitter (sorry, X) absolutely roasted ESPN for its camera work during the Derby — and honestly, it was hard to blame them. The split-screen view, which tried to show both the swing and the ball’s landing spot at the same time, somehow managed to show neither clearly. You couldn’t track the arc of the ball, couldn’t feel the drama of the flight, and couldn’t tell which ones were leaving the park until they already had. When the whole point of the Derby is watching balls fly into the night sky, not being able to see them fly kind of ruins the vibe.