Julio Rodriguez Wows Home Fans With Record-Setting Round at Home Run Derby

The Mariners slugger matched his career home run total in a matter of minutes.
Julio Rodriguez Wows Home Fans With Record-Setting Round at Home Run Derby
Julio Rodriguez Wows Home Fans With Record-Setting Round at Home Run Derby /
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Julio Rodríguez announced himself to the baseball world with his performance in the Home Run Derby in 2022. The Mariners center fielder bashed 32 home runs in the quarterfinals, 31 in the semifinals and 18 in the finals en route to a second-place finish.

Monday evening, however, Rodríguez surpassed his feats from a year ago.

The Dominican Republic native hit 41 home runs in the quarterfinals at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, easily defeating Mets first baseman Pete Alonso and setting a record for most home runs in a single Derby round.

Rodríguez had defeated Alonso, a two-time Derby champion, in the semifinals in 2022.

The second-year star hit 32 home runs in regulation and wowed the hometown crowd with nine more in bonus time. Incidentally, his 41 home runs matched his career total of 41 between 2022 and ’23.

Rodríguez advanced to meet Blue Jays infielder Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who defeated Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts in the quarterfinals 26–11.


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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .