The all-time single-Derby record belongs to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who hit an absurd 91 home runs in 2019, and then lost. That heartbreak is part of what makes the record so memorable. But “most home runs in a Derby” actually has a few different answers depending on whether you mean a single night, a single round, or a whole career, and each one tells a different story about power and stamina.
The chart below breaks down every version of the record: most in one Derby, most in a single round, most by a champion, and the most Derby wins. Take a look, then we’ll get into the details.
Contents
The 91-homer night that ended in defeat
The single most staggering performance in Home Run Derby history belongs to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who as a 20-year-old rookie in 2019 hit an almost unbelievable 91 home runs across the night in Cleveland. To put that in perspective, the previous record was 61, set by Giancarlo Stanton in 2016, so Guerrero did not just break the record, he obliterated it by 30 home runs. He surpassed the old mark before he had even finished his second round.
And then came the cruel twist: he lost. The Derby’s bracket format means total home runs do not decide the winner, only winning each head-to-head matchup does. After that exhausting second round, where he hit 40 in a series of tiebreakers against Joc Pederson, Guerrero had little left for the final and fell to Pete Alonso 23-22. His 91 homers remain the record, a monument to power and stamina, and a reminder that in the Derby, hitting the most does not always mean winning.
The single-round record: Julio’s 41
If 91 in a night is the headline number, the most home runs in a single round is just as remarkable. That record belongs to Julio Rodríguez, who in 2023, in front of his home crowd at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, smashed 41 home runs in the first round alone. He hit 32 in the initial period and added nine more in bonus time, a frenzy of power that had the Seattle crowd chanting his name and demolished two-time champ Pete Alonso, who managed just 21 in the matchup.
Rodríguez’s 41 broke the previous single-round record of 40, set by Guerrero in the second round of his epic 2019 night. In a fitting bit of Derby symmetry, Rodríguez then faced Guerrero in the very next round, and lost 21-20, before Guerrero went on to win the whole thing. Like Guerrero in 2019, Rodríguez learned that a historic round does not guarantee a trophy.
When the most homers actually won
Hitting a massive total and winning do sometimes go together. The record for most home runs by an actual champion belongs to Pete Alonso, who hit 74 on his way to the 2021 title at Coors Field in Denver, where the thin mountain air helps the ball fly. Alonso, already the defending champ, was not even the favorite, but after he shattered the first-round record with 35 homers, the night belonged to him. He became just the third player to win back-to-back Derbies.
Before Alonso’s outburst, the standard for a winning total was Stanton’s 61 in 2016, a performance powered by the hardest-hit and longest home runs of that night, averaging 446 feet. These totals show how the modern timed era, with its rapid-fire swings, pushed winning numbers far beyond anything from the Derby’s earlier decades.
The most Derby titles
While single-night totals grab headlines, sustained Derby greatness is measured in trophies, and there the king is Ken Griffey Jr. with three titles (1994, 1998, and 1999). Griffey’s smooth, effortless left-handed swing made him the face of the Derby in the 1990s. Three players have won it twice: Prince Fielder, Yoenis Céspedes, and Pete Alonso, with Alonso the only one to win in consecutive years (2019 and 2021, around the canceled 2020 event).
What makes Griffey’s three titles stand out is that he did it in the pre-timer era, when hitters worked with a set number of outs rather than a clock, generally producing lower totals. Winning three times across that format required consistency and power year after year, a different kind of dominance than a single explosive modern night.
Final Word
So who has hit the most home runs in a Derby? The headline answer is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and his surreal 91 in 2019, the most ever in a single event, even though he lost. Julio Rodríguez owns the single-round record with 41, Pete Alonso holds the mark for most by a champion with 74, and Ken Griffey Jr. leads in titles with three. Each record captures a different flavor of Derby greatness, raw volume, explosive bursts, winning totals, and sustained dominance.
One thing to watch: nearly all these records were set during the timed era from 2015 to 2025, when frantic, rapid-fire swings inflated the totals. With the 2026 Derby returning to a swing-based format, these sky-high numbers may stand for a long time, or a new slugger may find a way to chase them down. For the full rundown of the new rules, see our guide to the Home Run Derby rules explained.