On Wednesday, Major League Baseball announced the eight-man field for the 2021 Home Run Derby.
Shohei Ohtani, who leads all of baseball with 32 home runs, will be the No. 1 seed. He’ll face Juan Soto in the first round, who is the No. 8 seed with 11 home runs. The other players competing in the Derby will be the 2019 winner Pete Alonso, Matt Olson, Joey Gallo, Trevor Story, Trey Mancini and Salvador Perez.
Ohtani will become the first Japanese born player to ever participate in the contest. He’ll be the first player to participate who has also started a game as a pitcher as well. Is there any record he hasn’t broken this season?
He’ll be the seventh Angels player to ever participate in the Derby, joining 1986 co-winner Wally Joyner, Troy Glaus (2001), 2003 winner Garret Anderson, 2007 winner Vladimir Guerrero, Mark Trumbo (2012) and most recently Albert Pujols (2015).
You can catch the Home Run Derby on ESPN on Monday, July 12th at 5:00 p.m. PT.
Here are the rules for those who are unfamiliar with the format.