PHILADELPHIA − You won’t see the ridiculous number of home runs by one player anymore, mainly because of the format change this year limiting MLB Home Run Derby participants to about 50 swings.
So Vladimir Guerrero’s single-day total of 91 home runs in 2019 is safe, as is Julio Rodriguez’s single-round total of 41 in 2023. Both were set during the 2015-25 period, when the derby was based on time.
This year, the Home Run Derby, held on July 13 as the precursor to the MLB All-Star Game on July 14, is based on swings. That was done so players don’t tire out as easily.
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The eight participants will be limited to 20 swings in the first round. Then the four semifinalists will get 15 in the next round. And the two finalists will get another 15. That adds up to 50 for the two finalists.
It’s possible a player can get more than 50 swings, and thus home runs, because no round can end on a homer. For example, if a player homers on his 20th swing in the first round, he keeps going until he misses a home run.
Still, the efficiency of hitting homers should improve as players can be more selective with their pitches (to a degree, we hope!).
There’s another factor. And that has everything to do with the prolific amount of “Schwarbombs” that Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber and others have hit into the second deck in right field.
Yes, we’re talking distance, as Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Phillies, is one of the most home run friendly ballparks in the major leagues.
All of which puts the recent Home Run Derby record homer of 520 feet, hit by Juan Soto in 2021, in serious jeopardy when MLB’s top sluggers take aim at the fences.
It should be noted that Statcast, MLB’s official measurement for home runs, began tracking the distance of home runs hit in the derby in 2016. Before Statcast, Sammy Sosa hit one 524 feet in the 2002 HR derby in Milwaukee.
“After the first round, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,'” said Jason Giambi after the 2002 derby. Giambi was with the Yankees that year, and he actually won the HR derby. “(Sosa) started out like a house on fire hitting them almost out of the stadium. It was ridiculous. It was unbelievable.”
Soto tied Sosa for the second-longest derby homer at 520 feet at the 2021 game at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. With its high altitude, Coors Field is the most home run-friendly ballpark in the major leagues.
It just so happens that Coors Field is home to four of the five longest homers in the derby over the last 10 years of the Statcast era, and eight of the 10 longest.
It also just so happens that the 2021 Home Run Derby was the last one held at a home-run friendly park … until now.
Why Citizens Bank Park is a home run haven
According to Statcast’s metric, Citizens Bank Park is tied for fifth out of 30 MLB ballparks’ “park factors” for home runs this season. It also ranks fifth over a three-season span beginning in 2024.
With 100 set as the average for Statcast’s HR metric, “The Bank” is rated at 102. Coors Field, at 113, is first by a wide margin over three parks tied for second at 103.
In 2022, MLB’s All-Star week was held at Dodger Stadium (ranked 24th this season), then the Mariners’ T-Mobile Park in 2023 (30th), the Rangers’ Globe Life Field in 2024 (27th) and the Braves’ Truist Park in 2025 (23rd).
It was almost as if MLB wanted to give pitchers a break at the All-Star Game after the Coors Field homer-fest.
That break is over. Citizens Bank Park was considered a home run haven ever since it opened in 2004, in part because of wind currents blowing out to right field, especially on humid days.
It’s why former Phillies manager Charlie Manuel used to refer to the summer months in Philly as “hitting season.” But “The Bank” also was hitter-friendly to left field, especially in the power alleys.
When the park first opened, there was a 369-foot marker in left field. Midway through that first season, that 369-foot marker was moved well into left-center field.
Why? This is what noted baseball writer Jayson Stark wrote in 2004 while working for ESPN.com (Stark now works for The Athletic):
“Then, however, a couple of hundred suspicious home runs later, a Philadelphia TV guy named Howard Eskin slipped into the park one day with a golf-course surveying device. He aimed it at that 369 sign and … (insert spooky music here) … presto, the fence had apparently sneaked in by at least 10 feet while nobody was looking.
Eskin then announced this scoop on TV. A few days later, an amazing thing happened. That 369-foot sign had moved — at least 25 feet toward center field.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jim Salisbury (now with NBC Sports Philadelphia) had the grounds crew stretch a tape measure out to where that 369 sign used to be. It was only 358½ feet from home plate, which would make it the shortest power alley of any park this side of Williamsport.“
In other words, the power alley was really 358 feet. But instead of changing the sign to 358, it was just moved towards center field.
The fences in left field were later raised 5 feet, but the signs are in the same place. The 369 foot sign now reads 374, and it remains just a few feet away from the 387 sign near center field.
June 27, 2007. Ryan Howard hits the longest Home Run in Citizens Bank Park history with 505 ft shot.pic.twitter.com/CtDB6cBd39
— Phillies Tailgate (@PhilsTailgate) June 27, 2026
Who has the record for longest HR at Citizens Bank Park?
Just imagine if former Phillies slugger Ryan Howard had a chance to tee off during a HR derby at Citizens Bank Park.
Howard has the longest home run at Citizens Bank Park, a blast measured at 505 feet on June 27, 2007. Howard’s blast, against the Cincinnati Reds, went well over the 409-foot sign in straightaway center field, over the brick wall that serves as the batter’s eye beyond the shrubbery. It landed on Ashburn Alley and bounced onto the staircase leading to the standing-room-only section.
That homer was also the 100th of Howard’s career. Howard had set the Phillies’ record with 58 homers in 2006. And he is currently second in team history with 382.
After that game, Howard said of his homer: “It’s cool, you know? To hit it and do it in that fashion is a fun thing … It’s always good to be part of history. I didn’t feel much off the bat. I hit it pretty good on the sweet spot and it jumped. The one thing I remember is it was loud off the bat. I didn’t know it would go that far. I was shocked when I saw it clear the (batter’s) eye.”
That, of course, was off a major-league pitcher, Aaron Harang, trying to get Howard out − and not a self-designated batting practice pitcher throwing meatballs down the middle of the plate as they do during the Home Run Derby.
10/18/2022: Kyle Schwarber kicked off his NLCS with this 488-foot, 120-mph home run in San Diego that probably still has Bryce Harper in disbelief.#Phillies#RingTheBell (via MLB) @Rojas_Media_@PhilliesBellpic.twitter.com/8YKbwT4UQO
— MLB Daily Dingers (@MLBDailyDingers) October 18, 2024
Schwarber has hit some majestic home runs in his career, too. He came into the Phillies’ July 8 game against the Reds in Cincinnati with a major league-leading 31 home runs, on pace to challenge Howard’s single-season franchise record of 58. Schwarber hit 56 homers last season.
Schwarber’s longest home run is a 488-foot blast in Game 1 of the NLCS against the Padres on Oct. 19, 2022. That game was at San Diego’s Petco Park. His longest during a Home Run Derby was 495 feet in 2021 at Coors Field.
Will Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper participate in HR derby?
So far, both Schwarber and Bryce Harper have been coy about whether they would participate in the derby at Citizens Bank Park, although Schwarber recently told Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci that he plans to participate as long as his back feels up to it.
Harper said he wasn’t sure. Harper last participated in 2018, which he won, as a member of the Washington Nationals.
“I want to be healthy,” Harper said. “Obviously, I’m going to play every game in the first half. I haven’t done that for a long time. Last time I did (the HR derby), I won, and I said I’d never do it again.
“Obviously, I know the fans want me to do it, so I’ll take that into account. But we’ll see how much oomph I have behind me going out there and doing it.”
Who could hit the longest HR in derby?
There are others who can clear the fences, and then some. And it could depend on who enters the contest. Only the Rays’ Junior Caminero and the Yankees’ Ben Rice have committed so far.
But there are several All Stars among the top-10 longest homers of the 2026 season. Seven of those homers were hit at either Coors Field or at Sutter Health Park, home of the Athletics, in Sacramento, California.
The list is headed by the Braves’ Drake Baldwin at 473 feet, hit at Truist Park in Atlanta. Schwarber is 10th on the 2026 list, with a 460-foot shot at Coors Field on April 3.
The other players on the list are the Athletics’ Nick Kurtz (471 feet, Denver), Athletics’ Shea Langeliers (467 feet, Sacramento), the Brewers’ William Contreras (463 feet, Sacramento), the Rays’ Caminero (463 feet, Tampa), the Giants’ Rafael Devers (463 feet, Denver), the Astros’ Cam Smith (462 feet, Denver), the Athletics’ Tyler Soderstrom (462 feet, Sacramento), and the Pirates’ Esmerlyn Valdez, (461 feet, Pittsburgh).
So, bombs away, as it were.
Greg Giesen contributed to this report. Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on X @Mfranknfl. Sign up for the “Eye On The Eagles” newsletter, emailed to your inbox every Friday morning. Read his coverage of the Eagles’ championship season in “Flying High,” a hardcover coffee-table book from Delaware Online/The News Journal. Details at Fly.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Why ‘Schwarbombs’, HR records could explode at MLB’s Home Run Derby
