The 2026 MLB Home Run Derby has its first participant.
Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero announced his decision to compete in the annual event on his personal Instagram page on Tuesday.
This year’s All-Star festivities are at Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies. The derby is on Monday, July 13 at 8 p.m. EDT on Netflix.
Caminero’s 22 homers are tied with Ben Rice of the New York Yankees for fifth best in the Majors and third in the American League.
The 22-year-old made it to the final round of last summer’s Home Run Derby, losing to Cal Raleigh. He will become the first player in Rays history to represent the organization in the derby twice.
As a first-time All-Star in 2025, Caminero launched 45 long balls and finished with a .548 slugging percentage, good for sixth in MLB. Caminero finished ninth in last year’s AL MVP voting.
He followed that performance with a .350/.409/.850 slash line with three homers in 22 trips to the plate with the Dominican Republic at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
At such a young age, Caminero is already one of the premier power hitters in the game. However, he has an incredibly long way to go before he can call himself a top-five home run hitter from the D.R. Albert Pujols, Caminero’s manager at the WBC, leads the way with 703 career dingers.
There have been eight Dominican-born players who previously won the Home Run Derby: Sammy Sosa (2000), Miguel Tejada (2004), Vladimir Guerrero (2007), David Ortiz (2010), Robinson Cano (2011), Juan Soto (2022), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (2023), and Teoscar Hernandez (2024).
MLB is moving away from a time-based Home Run Derby format, giving participants 20 swings in the first round and 15 in the second and final rounds. Home runs hit on the final swing of a round allow the batter to continue swinging until an out is made.
Photo: Junior Caminero hits a home run, leading Taylor Walls and Brandon Lowe to score, during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Sunday, June 15, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith, File)
