Jordan Walker beats Schwarber to win Home Run Derby title
Jordan Walker beats Kyle Schwarber to win the 2026 Home Run Derby in Philadelphia as MLB debuts a new swing format.
PHILADELPHIA — Kyle Schwarber was scripted to be the homecoming king of this home run derby. In fact, nothing could stop the little magenta baseball from flying out of Citizens Bank Park over and over again.
And Jordan Walker, along with Bryce Harper, joined a very special club in pulling the rug out of Schwarber in the Home Run Derby.
St. Louis Cardinals slugger Walker, who is enjoying a breakout season, had one of the most clutch performances of all time in the Derby, needing to capitalize on his final swing and then two more after that to match Schwarber’s 11 home runs in the finals.
Instead, Walker hit four in a row to win, becoming the first Cardinal to win the Home Run Derby after future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols failed in three attempts.
Have you ever heard the sound of 43,000 people clicking?
It sounds like nothing at all, but that was perhaps Walker’s greatest accomplishment this past Monday, July 13, as he grinned electric, relaxed, and effortlessly tossed a baseball into the crowd to the roaring boos at Citizens Bank Park.
The crowd grew quieter each time the moon fell. And Walker couldn’t take offense at that hatred, because he knew it was just love for his people.
“My first thought was that Philadelphia is brutal,” Walker says. “I think this is pretty special because they love all of their players. That’s what they want from their home crowd. I’ve never heard people cheer so loudly for Schwarber and Harper. They did their job. They did their job.”
“You can’t hate them. You just have to play the game.”
He did just that, and all of his home runs in the finals went between 407 and 452 feet. It’s an absolute bomb that’s more than enough to grab the attention of Schwarber, who has hit 88 home runs since the start of the 2025 season, the most in the major leagues.
“He was hitting laser beams, I was hitting little flies, and he was hitting laser beams,” Schwarber says.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Schwarber and Harper, two Phillies, were virtually anointed to win this game. They were last announced when the streaming service announced its participants. The crowd roared. Everything is ready.
Instead, Harper was flamed in the first round.
In the final, Schwarber hit 11 home runs, but Walker finished the round with four consecutive home runs and five home runs on his final six swings, but fell short.
“I never expected to win,” Schwarber said.
“We get to the last ball. We were tied at three and he won by four. Hats off to him.”
It’s not unlike Harper, then a Washington National, in 2018, when he staged a ferocious rally with a countdown that brought him within one home run of Schwarber in the final game. In other words, Schwarber was on the wrong side of the equation as both a visiting villain and a hometown hero.
Tough beat.
This scenario saved what was generally an underwhelming Home Run Derby. The change in format (limiting the amount of swings instead of hitting on a clock) had some positive aspects, but it also drained most of the intensity of the competition.
If you need 7 home runs to tie the score and you have 8 swings left, you know how the round will end, right?
And the streaming service that took over the broadcast rights was only slightly better than the abominable events of opening night. They brought in Will Ferrell and Luke Wilson, a third guy who is probably familiar to young people, and added a bit of humor and irreverence before the game.
If Schwarber and Harper had been eliminated in the semifinals — and that almost happened — this would have been a disaster, and the final would have been played with most of the 43,000 fans lining up, disgruntled.
Instead, Schwarber and Walker spiced it up, with Walker actually hitting three and then four in a row for the win.
“I think no matter what, I just had fun. Every round I told them to have a good time,” Walker said. “When you’re a kid, your favorite thing to do is hit home runs. There’s a tournament dedicated to that.
“Have fun doing it.”
Even if he made the whole stadium miserable.
