Building a dream Home Run Derby field: Ronald Acuña Jr., Aaron Judge, Elly De La Cruz and more

The Home Run Derby is set to take place in Truist Park, home of the Braves, on Monday, July 14. We’re exactly one week away. We know some of the field so far, but don’t yet have the full eight-man group. 

Reality is no fun. What if we got to pick any eight players and they were all willing participants? No injuries, no need to rest, no better plans. Who would the ideal field be for the 2025 Derby? Let’s run through it. 

Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves

My No. 1 rule every single year is that we need an entrant from the host team. I always believed this anyway, but it’s even more important in this era of the Derby with the clock. It builds excitement anyway, but the crowd works into a frenzy when it’s their guy. My favorite Derby ever was the 2015 one in Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park and it was because of how much the crowd was behind the winner, then-Reds slugger Todd Frazier. 

With the Braves this season, it’s an easy choice for me. Acuña won MVP in 2023 and had 41 bombs that season, his second career 40+ HR season. He’s hit nine so far this year in 40 games. And how about a flair for the dramatic? He homered in his first at-bat back from knee surgery.

Acuña has already been announced as a 2025 Derby participant, so we’re good here. 

Being easy and obvious doesn’t negate the rationale for the choice. There’s a reason he’s an easy and obvious pick. Judge is in the middle of a power run that we’ve rarely ever seen in MLB history. He’s one of 10 players in history with two 58+ homer seasons. He’s one of five to have three seasons with at least 52 homers, joining Mark McGwire, Babe Ruth, Sammy Sosa and Alex Rodriguez. These facts don’t even yet include this season, when he has 32 right now and surely tops 50 again. In terms of raw power, Judge might have the most in baseball.

Another easy and obvious pick. Ohtani led the AL in homers in 2023, the NL last season with 54 and leads the NL this time around with 30. As the single most marketable player, globally, in baseball, Ohtani in the Derby would be amazing. Alas.

Still, this is my ideal/dream field and we like dreaming. 

The Big Dumper is the MLB leader in homers with 35 and there’s extra fun there since he’s a catcher. That catcher record of 48 home runs is going to fall this season to a backstop in Seattle. How ridiculous is that? 

Raleigh’s home ballpark definitely hurts him. If he played every game at T-Mobile Park this season, he’d have 31 homers, per Baseball Savant. If he played every game in Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, where the A’s now call home? He’d have 40. 

It sure looks like Raleigh is going to become the first catcher to ever get to 50 homers and that’s so incredibly fun that we need him in the Derby. And he is in it. It is well deserved and hopefully he puts on a show. It’s the summer of the Dumper. 

The lefty-swinging PCA is one of the most electric players in the league. He’s got the defensive range, a cannon for an arm, off-the-charts speed on the basepaths and, yes, the home run power. He’s clubbed 23 homers so far this season and is on pace to be the first-ever Cubs player to get to 40-40. As an emerging superstar, this is the kind of showcase to get more eyeballs on his talent. Plus, it’s an easy selling point, usually, for a player making $740,000 in a season to have a shot at the one million bucks the champion gets.

If we’re talking about electric players who are incredibly fun to watch, it doesn’t get any better than De La Cruz. The 6-foot-5 switch-hitter had 25 homers last season and sits with 18 this year. I’ve mentioned marketability a few times and, again, De La Cruz is exactly the type of exciting, young talent MLB should be showcasing. Unfortunately, De La Cruz declined an invitation for this year’s Derby, but hopefully we get to see him someday. He is in my dream field. 

Cruz is legitimately the hardest swinger in all of baseball. We know that now that bat speed can be measured. That means that when he does run into one, it’s a thing of beauty. Sure enough, you’ll find balls struck by Cruz all over the highest exit velocity charts every year. There’s some level of debate on how much that matters in regular-season games, but there’s no need to debate the merits when it comes to the Home Run Derby. He would crush some balls into the stratosphere. 

Wood is in the field for the actual Derby this season and I liked the choice enough that I’m sticking with it here in this dream field. The 6-foot-7, 22-year-old superstar for the Nationals has 23 homers and his majestic, lefty-swing in the Derby will be so aesthetically pleasing. He hits the ball just about as hard as anyone and 12 of his 23 home runs this season have been filed as “no doubters.”