The Home Run Derby is finally getting out of its own way.
Major League Baseball is implementing a big-time change to the Home Run Derby beginning with this year’s competition at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pa. They are formally ditching the clock that had become a staple of every HR Derby since 2015, according to a report on Wednesday by Evan Drellich of The Athletic.
Drellich adds that MLB will now be using a “swings” system in which each hitter gets 20 swings in the first round and 15 swings in each of the second and third rounds. Additionally, the Home Run Derby will reportedly allow for players to keep on swinging during the last pitch of every round until they do not homer.
Fans universally agreed that the decision by MLB was a major positive. Many took to social media to express their glowing approval.
That’s a W the clock to me was always unnecessary
— (@proclubmember) June 18, 2026
THE REAL HR DERBY IS BACK LFG!!! pic.twitter.com/XNBTLp2mT3
—2025 WORLD SERIES CHAMPS (@jgutierrez55) June 18, 2026
— Moving Unit (@MovingUnit_) June 18, 2026
this is the way it should be
— Mets2026 (@Mets2026) June 18, 2026
Major League Baseball first implemented the clock-based system for the Home Run Derby during commissioner Rob Manfred’s first year in charge in an apparent attempt to speed the pace of the competition and prevent players from taking too many pitches. But the pendulum eventually swung too far in the other direction with players now rushing to beat the clock, thus resulting in heavier fatigue and a vastly inferior viewing product for fans (with the broadcast often having to cut away from home runs before they even landed).
MLB might still be modernizing the Home Run Derby in some other regards. But it looks like the decision to finally return the competition to its roots in a sense is a major win for baseball fans.
