Cal Raleigh Wins 2025 Home Run Derby

Zak Drapeau
Jul 15
3 min read

by Zak Drapeau 7/15/2025 FansOnlySportz

To continue his legendary season, Cal Raleigh has won the 2025 Home Run Derby!

Raleigh entered the day with the best odds of winning. Leading the league in Home Runs at this point in the season, everyone expected Raleigh to make the Finals .

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First Round

Nearly losing in the first round, Raleigh's 17 home runs tied with Brent Rooker but his long of 470.62 ft. was just longer than Rooker's long of 470.54 feet.

That was the tiebreaker... .08 feet which is .96 of an inch... Raleigh won the tiebreaker by less than an inch.

Second Round

In the semifinal round, Cal Raleigh was paired against O'Neil Cruz. The two most hyped contestants of the tournament, the round wasn't close as Raleigh's 19 to Cruz's 13. The show was intense however, with Cruz not to be outdone. In this round, Cruz didn't duplicate his 513-foot missile but he did go for 498 feet and and would also hit a 473-ft shot that was recorded at 119 mph.

Raleigh may have only had a 465-foot for his longest this round, but staying on the left side of the plate instead of switch-hitting made him hit 4 of the first 5 pitches out and have a consistent pace throughout the round. After 16 in regulation, he would hit another 3 in the bonus round with an average distance of 430 feet.

Final Round

A face off of two future stars in the MLB had Cal Raleigh vs Junior Caminero in the Finals. With stakes as high as they can be, if Caminero wins he becomes the YOUNGEST Home Run Derby champion. However, it was Raleigh who ended victorious and becoming the ONLY CATCHER to ever win the honor.

With 18 homers to Caminero's 15, Raleigh would again take a consistent approach with very few long drives or smoked balls. His average distance of 430 feet was the exact same every round and his average velocity of 105-107 every round made his swing easy and deadly.

Caminero's performance was great but Raleigh was always going to take this one.

With a total of 54 home runs on the day, Raleigh's totals weren't anything special compared to previous years but his consistency and the ease at which he won every round was too smooth.

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At 54 home runs for the day, Raleigh will continue the celebration with a performance in tonight's All-Star game. Sitting at the best season a Catcher's ever had heading into the All-Star break, Raleigh is making the most of his "coming out" season as he soaks in all of the All-Star week's limelight.

After a spectacular first half of the season, Raleigh's Home Run count stands at 38. Leading the league with 3 more than Aaron Judge, his projected 64 by the end of the season would be a mile more than the previous record for a Catcher, set at 48 by Salvador Perez in 2021. 64 would actually rank 5th all-time in Home Runs for a season if Raleigh could hit that magical mark.

In years past, the winner of the Home Run Derby has often slowed down in the 2nd half as many have attributed the tole a Derby can take on the player in the long run. Raleigh's burst of power has been a surprise this year and a continued form anywhere near the 64-mark would be a truly historic feet.

Can Big Dumper carry on this season's magical run? Or will the Derby Champion slow down after an unreal performance?

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