MLB Home Run Derby Could Net Young Stars Big Payday

PHILADELPHIA — MLB’s Home Run Derby will feature a particularly lucrative opportunity for four of its eight participants, while also offering a big dose of hometown heroes and veteran star power. 

The league’s retooled home run contest set for Monday night at Citizens Bank Park, a key part of a new-look run of All-Star Game events, will again feature a $2.5 million prize pool. The payouts, set in the current labor deal between MLB and the MLB Players Association, include:

• $1 million for the winner
• $500,000 for the runner-up 
• $150,000 for each of the other six competitors
• $100,000 for the longest home run

That $1 million top prize is more than the entire 2026 MLB salary for half of the Home Run Derby field: the Royals’ Jac Caglianone ($784,000), the Rays’ Junior Caminero ($794,800), the Cardinals’ Jordan Walker ($799,400), and the Yankees’ Ben Rice ($845,800). These younger MLB players are not yet eligible for salary arbitration or free agency. 

The expanded Home Run Derby prize pool, first introduced in 2019 and a fixture since then, has been an important tool to boost the event’s allure for players, and has certainly aided in bringing in younger talent.

Pete Alonso, now with the Orioles but the 2019 and 2021 winner while still with the Mets, famously said he used Home Run Derby prize money to help pay for his wedding, while also donating 10% to two charitable organizations aiding military veterans. 

Caminero won $500,000 last year in this event, placing second behind winner Cal Raleigh of the Mariners. 

Veteran Presence, Host-Market Pairing

The financial reward for winning the Home Run Derby is less singularly impactful for the other half of the 2026 field: the White Sox’ Munetaka Murakami ($17 million), the Red Sox’ Willson Contreras ($18 million), and the Phillies’ Bryce Harper ($26.1 million) and Kyle Schwarber ($30 million). 

With the MLB All-Star Game events no longer featuring megastars Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, both battling injuries, the presence of Schwarber and Harper is becoming even more important. The duo represents the first pair of teammates to be in a Home Run Derby while their home market is hosting since the Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton and Justin Bour in Miami in 2017, and just the third overall. 

Schwarber and Harper famously battled in the final of the 2018 Home Run Derby in Washington, D.C., when Harper was a member of the Nationals and Schwarber was with the Cubs. Harper won that matchup, 19–18.

“Having a rematch of ‘18 would be pretty cool to see, too,” Schwarber said. “I think it would be fun for everyone, not just Philly, but the game and for the people watching.”

This year’s Home Run Derby, meanwhile, will feature a return to an untimed format for the first time since 2014, though it will be based on total swings instead of outs.