The Home Run Derby is the main attraction of MLB's All-Star Weekend for many fans. Fortunately for those people, the 2025 pool of contestants is quite stacked, brimming with talented sluggers who can crush the ball. That's mostly because getting invited to compete in baseball's glorified batting practice is a great privilege, but the league has also made participation seem quite appealing.
There are a bunch of perks that come with partaking in the Derby, according to the league's Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the players' union. From being able to bring multiple guests with first-class airfare and hotel accommodations to a generous cash stipend, players are incentivized to be involved. But that's only the half of it; wait until you hear how much money is on the line this year in Atlanta.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.
2025 MLB Home Run Derby payout distribution: How much money is at stake?
Result | Prize |
|---|---|
Winner | $1,000,000 |
Runner-up | $500,000 |
Remaining Participants | $150,000 |
Longest home run | $100,000 |
Winning the 2025 T-Mobile Home Run Derby at Truist Park nets you $1,000,000. That's more than event entrant James Wood is making with the Washington Nationals this season. If he manages to win, this would be a well-deserved raise for the burgeoning outfielder.
Second place still fetches you a pretty penny: $500,000, to be exact, making being a runner-up not sound so bad. Just showing up and having fun earns the remainder of the field $150,000. Not too shabby for a day's work, if you ask us.
Moreover, whoever hits the farthest long ball of the evening will take home an extra $100,000. All it takes to add another six figures to your bank account is one (mega) big fly. However, each of the eight participants has the power to outdo the other, making this anyone's game.
Who hit the longest home run in Derby history?
Retired Chicago Cubs icon Sammy Sosa unofficially holds the record, smashing two homers of 524 and 520 feet in 2002. But that was over a decade before Statcast began tracking the distance in 2016, which is why he's the informal titleholder.
New York Mets superstar Juan Soto tops the Statcast-era list, tying Sosa's 520-foot blast. His teammate and two-time Derby champion Pete Alonso isn't far behind with a 513-foot bomb. Boston Red Sox veteran shortstop Trevor Story mashed a 518-foot dinger, and three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani has a 514-foot jack. Notably, all of these shots happened in 2021 at the Colorado Rockies' Coors Field, where the elevation played a factor.