Cruz hits 513-foot homer, joins Raleigh, Caminero and Buxton in Home Run Derby semifinals
Atlanta's Matt Olson, Washington's James Wood, the New York Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr., and the Athletics' Brent Rooker were eliminated.
Cruz and Caminero each hit 21 long balls and Buxton had 20 in the opening round of the annual power show. Raleigh and Rooker had 17 apiece, but Raleigh advanced on the tiebreaker of their longest homer, 470.61 feet to 470.53.
Cruz faced Raleigh in the semifinals, while Caminero took on Buxton.
The longest derby homer since Statcast started tracking in 2016 was 520 feet by Juan Soto in the mile-high air of Denver's Coors Field in 2021. Last year, the longest drive at Arlington, Texas, was 473 feet by Atlanta's Marcell Ozuna.
Cruz's long drive was the hardest-hit at 118 mph.
Raleigh, who leads the major leagues with 38 homers, was pitched to by his father, Todd, former coach of Tennessee and Western Carolina. His younger brother Todd Raleigh Jr. did the catching.
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Just the second Derby switch-hitter after Baltimore's Adley Rutschman in 2023, Raleigh hit eight left-handed, took a timeout, then hit seven right-handed. Going back to lefty, then hit two more in the bonus round.
Wood hit 16 homers, including a 486-foot shot and one that landed on the roof of the Chop House behind the right-field wall. Olson, disappointing his hometown fans, finished with 15 and was eliminated in the first round for the second time.
Chisholm hit just three homers.
___
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