The Braves’ Ronald Acuña will be one of eight participants in the Home Run Derby on July 18 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Braves confirmed the news on Twitter.
Acuña, who has eight homers this season as he recovers from a torn ACL injury suffered in 2021, will also start the All-Star Game on July 19 after finishing as the NL’s leading vote-getter. Four other Braves were picked as All-Star reserves.
Acuña will compete in his second Home Run Derby. He was eliminated by Mets slugger Pete Alonso in 2019. Acuña will compete in the Derby even though he is not one of seven Braves players with 10 or more homers.
Alonso will try to become the first player to win the Home Run Derby in three consecutive years. The other six participants will be announced Thursday night.
Alonso hit 74 total home runs in last year’s derby at Denver’s Coors Field and beat Baltimore’s Trey Mancini 23-22 in the final round. Alonso joined Ken Griffey Jr. (1998-99) and Yoenis Céspedes (2013-14) in winning consecutive titles.
Joey Gallo, Shohei Ohtani, Matt Olson, Salvador Pérez, Juan Soto and Trevor Story also competed last year.
There was no derby in 2020, when the All-Star Game scheduled for Dodger Stadium was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Alonso won the 2019 derby at Cleveland as a rookie when he defeated Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the final round, also by 23-22.
