The 2026 T-Mobile Home Run Derby goes Monday, July 13 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, live on Netflix for the first time, with a brand-new swing-based format replacing the timer, and the eight-man field is filling up fast. Four sluggers are officially in: Junior Caminero, last year’s runner-up and the hottest hitter alive; Ben Rice, who’s bringing his own dad to pitch; Jac Caglianone, owner of the longest average home run in baseball; and Willson Contreras, having a career power year at 34.
The bigger names are circling. Kyle Schwarber, the major-league home run leader, has said he’ll do it if healthy, and Bryce Harper plans to swing in front of his home fans, which would give Philadelphia the hometown-hero Derby it’s been dreaming about since the All-Star Game was awarded.
This page tracks the field as it fills, confirmed, likely, and out, plus the new format and how to watch. The chart below covers all of it. Take a look, then we’ll break it all down.
Contents
The confirmed four, and their stories
Every confirmed name carries a plot. Junior Caminero is the redemption arc: last July’s runner-up (an 18-15 final-round loss to Cal Raleigh) returns as the most locked-in hitter in the sport, riding a stretch of 11 homers in 12 games and the fastest average bat speed ever measured, with a shot at becoming the youngest champion in Derby history. Ben Rice is the family movie: the 12th-round pick turned Yankees centerpiece will hit against his father Dan, a 1980s Brown University pitcher returning to the mound for the occasion, while chasing the Yankees’ first title since Aaron Judge’s in 2017. Jac Caglianone is the physics exhibit, baseball’s longest average home run (418 feet) and eleven no-doubters among his fourteen, and the second 23-year-old chasing the youngest-winner mark. And Willson Contreras is the veteran surprise: a first Derby at 34, in the middle of a career power year, with the one warning flag that Citizens Bank Park favors lefties and he pulls right-handed.
The Philadelphia question
The field’s remaining drama is local. Kyle Schwarber, who leads the majors in home runs, has publicly committed contingent only on health and selection, and Bryce Harper plans to swing in front of his home crowd, and if both land, Philadelphia gets the greatest hometown Derby setup the event has staged: two Phillies launching balls into their own stands, one of them the reigning All-Star Game MVP by swing-off, a year after that swing-off previewed exactly this kind of theater. The likely-list behind them (James Wood’s raw power, Nick Kurtz’s made-for-this metrics) rounds out an event that, notably, several stars declined: Ohtani, one night removed from career homer #300, was ruled out by his own manager, Crow-Armstrong is transparently saving his debut for Wrigley in 2027, and Langeliers cited a catcher’s July fatigue, the exact complaint the new format exists to answer.
New format, new network, same physics
Two structural changes make this Derby a genuine experiment. The format abandons the timer that has governed every Derby since 2015, returning to the event’s roots: a fixed number of swings per round, rewarding pitch selection over frantic hacking and cutting the fatigue that had stars declining invitations. And the broadcast moves to Netflix, coverage at 7 p.m. ET, Derby at 8, making one of baseball’s most-watched non-game events a streaming exclusive for the first time, an industry-wide test case wearing a home run contest’s clothes. History’s tip for your bracket: the past two champions, Raleigh and Teoscar Hernández, were both first-timers, which bodes well for Rice, Caglianone, and Contreras, and this page updates with every announcement between now and Monday night, then once more with the champion. Four spots to go; Philadelphia’s holding its breath for two names in particular.
Final Word
The 2026 Home Run Derby, tracked: Monday, July 13 at Citizens Bank Park, live on Netflix (7 p.m. coverage, 8 p.m. start), under a new swing-based format, with Caminero (redemption), Rice (dad on the mound), Caglianone (418-foot averages), and Contreras (first Derby at 34) confirmed, Schwarber and Harper circling a hometown double, Ohtani officially out, and history favoring the first-timers, four spots open, updates here as each one fills.
Every champion is listed in Home Run Derby winners by year, the round-by-round rules live in Home Run Derby rules, explained, and the record book is in Home Run Derby records.