You could feel the humidity sitting heavy over Truist Park on that July night in Atlanta. Honestly, it felt like the air was too thick for anything to fly, let alone a baseball. But then Cal Raleigh stepped up. Or, more accurately, he stepped up twice. One of the wildest things about the 2025 home run derby results is that we watched a guy win the whole thing while switching sides of the plate like it was a casual Sunday afternoon in the cages.
He didn't just win. He made history.
See, before this, no catcher had ever taken home the trophy. Not Pudge, not Piazza, not Bench. It was Cal "Big Dumper" Raleigh who finally broke the curse. And he did it with his dad, Todd, throwing the pitches and his brother behind the plate. Talk about a family business. But the road to that trophy was messy. It was stressful. It literally came down to less than an inch.
The First Round: A Game of Inches
Most people think of the Derby as a display of raw power, and it is, but 2025 was a math problem.
Cal Raleigh nearly didn't make it out of the first round. Seriously. He finished his opening set with 17 home runs, which put him in a dead tie with Brent Rooker for the final transfer spot. Under the rules, when there's a tie in the first round, it goes to the longest home run distance.
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Statcast had to dig deep into the decimals for this one. Raleigh’s longest blast clocked in at 470.62 feet. Rooker’s best? 470.54 feet.
That is a difference of 0.08 feet. Basically, the length of a bottle cap. If Raleigh’s ball had hit a seat back an inch lower, he’s out in the first round and the narrative of the night changes completely. Instead, he moved on, and Rooker was left wondering what might have been if he’d just had one more protein shake that morning.
The Power Ranking from Round One
- Oneil Cruz: 21 homers (Absolute moonshots)
- Junior Caminero: 21 homers (The kid is a problem)
- Byron Buxton: 20 homers (Vintage Buxton loft)
- Cal Raleigh: 17 homers (Won the tiebreaker by a hair)
- Brent Rooker: 17 homers (Heartbreaking exit)
- James Wood: 16 homers (The 6'7" rookie looked the part)
- Matt Olson: 15 homers (The hometown hero couldn't find the rhythm)
- Jazz Chisholm Jr.: 3 homers (Just a rough night at the office)
Why Oneil Cruz Was the Real Main Character
If you’re just looking at the final 2025 home run derby results, you’re missing the sheer violence of what Oneil Cruz did to those baseballs. The Pirates' giant didn't win the trophy, but he owned the Statcast leaderboard.
He hit a ball 513 feet.
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Let that sink in for a second. That is tied with Aaron Judge for the longest home run ever tracked by Statcast at sea level. We aren't talking about the thin air in Colorado where the ball carries forever. This was in the thick, soupy air of Georgia.
Cruz actually hit the five longest homers of the entire night. It felt like every time he swung, the outfielders just stopped moving. He was hitting balls into parts of Truist Park that usually only see seagulls. But the Derby is a marathon, not a sprint. In the semifinals, he ran out of gas. Raleigh outlasted him 19-13 because Raleigh’s swing is built for efficiency, while Cruz’s swing is built to destroy planets.
The Finals: Big Dumper vs. The Kid
By the time the final round rolled around, it was Raleigh against the 22-year-old Rays phenom, Junior Caminero.
Caminero is exciting. He swings a bat with his own face on it—no joke. He’d been the most consistent hitter all night, but the final round is a different beast. Two minutes. 27 pitches.
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Raleigh went first and put up 18. It wasn't a staggering number, but it was solid. He’d stopped switch-hitting by this point, sticking to the left side to keep his rhythm. Then came Caminero. He looked good early, but then something weird happened. He hit a rocket to right-center that looked like a sure homer, but a ball boy actually reached up and "robbed" it.
The stadium gasped. Caminero laughed it off, but you could tell the momentum shifted. He finished with 15. The veteran catcher’s stamina won out over the rookie’s adrenaline.
Actionable Takeaways from the 2025 Results
Looking back at how this went down, there are a few things every baseball fan should keep in mind for the future of the event:
- Catchers are built different: Raleigh proved that the stamina required to squat for nine innings translates well to the endurance needed for the Derby. Don't overlook the "utility" guys in future betting lines.
- The "Coors Factor" is real: Even though Cruz hit one 513 feet, it still didn't touch the 520-foot marks we saw in Denver. When comparing all-time results, always check the elevation.
- Tiebreakers matter: If you're a player, you can't just aim for the seats; you need at least one "maximum effort" swing to secure a distance advantage in case of a tie.
- Family pitching is a cheat code: Raleigh’s dad has been throwing to him since he was three. The chemistry was obvious. If a player brings a random coach instead of someone who knows their "sweet spot" perfectly, bet against them.
If you want to see the full spray charts or the exit velocity breakdowns, the MLB Film Room has the individual clips of all 54 of Raleigh's homers. It's a masterclass in pulling the ball. Next year, the show moves to Philadelphia. If Cal decides to defend his title, Citizens Bank Park’s short porches might lead to some even more ridiculous numbers.