The Dream Field For 2023 MLB Home Run Derby | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

2023 Home Run Count: 12

Julio Rodríguez is nowhere close to the league lead in home runs hit this season, but this one is as non-negotiable as it gets.

(As such, we couldn't have asked for a better player to be the first one to commit to joining this year's derby field.)

Last year's Home Run Derby is where Rodríguez became a household name, absolutely obliterating baseballs in the process of hitting eight more first-round home runs and eight more second-round home runs than any other player.

Rodríguez didn't win the derby, coming up just short against Juan Soto in the finals. But, I mean, come on, he won the derby. He was making the league minimum salary of $700,000 at the time of the derby, but he signed a 12-year deal with a minimum value of more than $209 million less than six weeks after that exhibition.

In contrast, Pete Alonso—who Rodríguez smoked in the second round of last year's derby—won both the 2019 and 2021 derbies and still hasn't gotten a long-term deal.

But the real reason this is non-negotiable is that this year's All-Star Game is taking place in Seattle. And while the Dodgers did not have a representative in last year's derby, the host team typically does.

If, however, Rodríguez for any reason does not to participate in this year's derby—even though his pre-ASB slugging percentage of .477 exploded into a post-ASB slugging percentage of .576 last season—I'm going to go out on a limb and presume we would all gleefully accept a cameo appearance by Ken Griffey Jr.

He might go out there at 53 years old and fail to hit a single home run, but could you even imagine the eruption at T-Mobile Park if Junior was a surprise, "last-minute replacement" for Rodríguez?