Some of these records are recent, set during the timed era from 2015 to 2025 when rapid-fire swings inflated the totals. Others, like Ken Griffey Jr.’s three titles, date back to the Derby’s earlier decades and may never be broken. With the 2026 Derby switching to a new swing-based format, this is a snapshot of every major Derby record as it stands today.
The chart below collects all the key Home Run Derby records in one place: most homers, longest blasts, most titles, and the notable firsts. Take a look, then we’ll get into the stories behind them.
Contents
The home run records: Guerrero’s untouchable 91
The most famous Derby record is also one of the most heartbreaking. In 2019, a 20-year-old Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit 91 home runs across the night in Cleveland, shattering the previous single-Derby record of 61 by a full 30 homers, and then lost the final to Pete Alonso. His 91 remains the gold standard for a single Derby. The single-round record belongs to Julio Rodríguez, who launched 41 in the first round in 2023 at his home park in Seattle, only to also lose later that night.
For the record that actually came with a trophy, look to Pete Alonso, whose 74 home runs in 2021 are the most ever by a Derby winner. Alonso set that mark at Coors Field, the same night he broke the first-round record with 35. These towering totals were all products of the timed format used from 2015 to 2025, which encouraged hitters to swing as fast as possible, a dynamic the 2026 rules are designed to change.
Griffey, the undisputed king
While modern sluggers own the home run totals, the record for Derby titles belongs to a legend of the 1990s: Ken Griffey Jr., who won three times (1994, 1998, and 1999). “The Kid” was the face of the Derby for a decade, competing a record eight times and producing its most iconic moment in a 1993 loss, when he became the only player to hit the warehouse beyond the right-field wall at Baltimore’s Camden Yards. No one has matched his three titles since.
Three players have won the Derby twice: Prince Fielder, Yoenis Céspedes, and Pete Alonso. Céspedes and Alonso, like Griffey, managed to win in consecutive appearances. Fielder holds his own unique distinction as the only player to win the Derby in both leagues. But Griffey’s combination of three titles and eight appearances makes him the most accomplished Derby competitor of all time.
The longest blasts ever hit
Distance is the other half of Derby greatness, and the record depends on how you measure it. Since Statcast began precisely tracking distance in 2016, the longest Derby home run is Juan Soto’s 520-foot moonshot at the 2021 Derby at Coors Field, where the mile-high altitude helps the ball fly. The longest hit at a normal-altitude park belongs to Aaron Judge, whose 513-footer in 2017 stands as the benchmark for raw power without the altitude boost.
Going back to the pre-Statcast era, when distances were estimated rather than measured, Sammy Sosa’s reported 524-footer from 2002 is the longest on record. Those older figures are not directly comparable to today’s precise measurements, but they are part of the Derby’s lore, reminders that mammoth blasts have always been the event’s calling card.
The notable firsts
The Derby’s history is dotted with memorable milestones. The most recent came in 2025, when Seattle’s Cal Raleigh became both the first catcher and the first switch-hitter ever to win the event, a fitting capstone to a historic season. Years earlier, in 2023, Guerrero Jr. and his father Vladimir Sr. (the 2007 champion) became the first father-son duo to each win a Derby, a touching piece of family history.
The age records tell their own story: Juan Gonzalez was the youngest winner at 23 in 1993, while Guerrero Jr. became the youngest participant ever at just 20 in 2019. Together these milestones capture the Derby’s evolution from a 1990s sideshow into one of the marquee events of the baseball calendar, a stage where careers and legacies are made in a single night.
Final Word
The Home Run Derby record book is a monument to power: Guerrero Jr.’s 91 homers in a single night, Rodríguez’s 41 in a round, Alonso’s 74 as a champion, Soto’s 520-foot blast, and Griffey’s three titles that still stand as the gold standard. Each record captures a different kind of greatness, from explosive single-night volume to sustained dominance across an era.
With the 2026 Derby adopting a new swing-based format, many of these timed-era totals may stand for years to come, making this a definitive snapshot of Derby history. For the full rundown of how the new event works, see our guide to the Home Run Derby rules, or dive deeper into the most home runs in a Derby.