Overview
- Reports published Wednesday night say Major League Baseball will ditch the clock and give hitters a fixed number of swings: 20 in Round 1 and 15 in the semifinal and final, with a rule that a round continues if the last swing is a home run.
- The field will remain eight players in Round 1, the top four totals will advance, semifinals and the final will be head-to-head matchups, first-round ties will be decided by longest homer, and later ties will use three-swing tiebreakers.
- Netflix will broadcast the July 13 Home Run Derby at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia and reportedly solicited player and league feedback that helped drive the format change.
- The change is presented as a player-safety measure because the timed format encouraged constant swinging, which players said increased fatigue and injury risk; MLB and outlets note the move may slow pace-of-play compared with the clocked era.
- Prize amounts reported for the event remain unchanged with $1,000,000 for the winner, $500,000 for the runner-up, $150,000 for other participants, a $100,000 longest-homer award, and participant names are expected to be announced closer to the derby date.