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Former college baseball players who have won the MLB Home Run Derby

2024-07-16 23:35:02

Only 13 collegiate stars have gone on to take first place in the MLB Home Run Derby since the All-Star weekend event was introduced in 1985. The most recent to do so was Florida product Pete Alonso, who won the 2021 event at Coors Field in Denver with the New York Mets. It was his second consecutive derby win, becoming the first former college baseball player to achieve the feat. Alonso’s 2019 crown came at Cleveland’s Progressive Field.

Before Alonso, only two MLB players in history had successfully defended their Home Run Derby title — Ken Griffey Jr. (1998-99) and Yoenis Cespedes (2013-14).

Let’s take a look back at the complete list of former college baseball players to lift the trophy: 

YEAR PLAYER MLB TEAM COLLEGE CAREER MLB HRS CAREER NCAA HRS
1986 Wally Joyner* California Angels BYU (1981-83) 204 43
1987 Andre Dawson Chicago Cubs Florida A&M (1973-75) 438 Stats N/A
1992 Mark McGwire Oakland Athletics USC (1982-84) 583 53
1995 Frank Thomas Chicago White Sox Auburn (1987-89) 521 49
1996 Barry Bonds San Francisco Giants Arizona State (1983-85) 762 45
1997 Tino Martinez New York Yankees Tampa (1986-88) 339 54
2001 Luis Gonzalez Arizona Diamondbacks South Alabama (1987-88) 354 23
2002 Jason Giambi New York Yankees Long Beach State (1990-92) 440 1992 stats N/A
2006 Ryan Howard Philadelphia Phillies Missouri State (1998-01) 382 50
2015 Todd Frazier Cincinnati Reds Rutgers (2005-07) 218 42
2017 Aaron Judge New York Yankees Fresno State (2011-13) 239** 18
2018 Bryce Harper Washington Nationals College of Southern Nevada (NJCAA)# (2010) 288** 31
2019, 2021 Pete Alonso New York Mets Florida (2014-16) 172** 23
  • #Junior College
  • *Denotes that player was a co-winner
  • ** Denotes active total

That’s 12 different winners spread out across nine different conferences and two divisions in the NCAA — Dawson played for Florida A&M back when the Rattlers played in Division II — with another from junior college (Harper). The only two NCAA conferences with more than one representative is the Pac-12 (McGwire, Bonds) and the SEC (Frank Thomas and Pete Alonso).

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