Denver air is different. If you’ve ever stood on a street corner in LoDo, you feel that thinness in your lungs, but for a baseball player, it’s basically a cheat code. That was the backdrop for the 2021 Home Run Derby, a night that felt like a fever dream of physics-defying moonshots and sheer cardiovascular exhaustion. People expected fireworks because, well, it’s Coors Field. What they actually got was a heavy-metal performance from Pete Alonso and a reminder that Shohei Ohtani is actually human, even if only for a few minutes.
Honestly, the hype was almost too much. We were coming off a canceled 2020 season, and MLB needed a win. They got it. The ball was flying. Purple row seats were being peppered with cowhide. It wasn't just about the distance, though. It was about the vibe.
The Pete Alonso Factor: More Than Just Power
Pete Alonso doesn’t just participate in these things. He inhabits them. Watching him during the 2021 Home Run Derby was like watching a guy at his own private birthday party who just happened to be hitting 500-foot bombs in front of millions. He was dancing. He had the headphones on—reportedly listening to a mix of Mobb Deep and The Notorious B.I.G.—and he looked completely detached from the pressure that usually eats guys alive in this format.
He hit 35 home runs in the first round alone. Thirty-five.
Think about the mechanics of that for a second. The Derby is a grueling, timed sprint now, not the leisurely "ten outs" format of the 90s. By the time he got to the finals against Trey Mancini, Alonso had turned the quest for a repeat title into a foregone conclusion. He eventually finished with 74 total home runs on the night. It wasn't just a win; it was a statement of occupancy. He owns this event. While other players look like they’re fighting for their lives by the second round, gasping for oxygen in the high altitude, Alonso looks like he’s just getting started.
There’s a specific kind of "Derby swing" that most guys struggle to find. You can’t just swing hard. You have to find a rhythm with your pitcher. Pete has Dave Jauss. If you know, you know. Jauss was the unsung hero of that night, putting the ball in the exact same microscopic window over and over again. It was surgical.
The Ohtani Letdown (And Why It Was Still Great)
Everyone tuned in for Shohei Ohtani. Let’s be real. He was the number one seed, the global icon, the guy doing things we hadn't seen since Babe Ruth. But the 2021 Home Run Derby showed the one flaw in the Ohtani armor: the clock.
He faced Juan Soto in the first round, and it was absolute chaos.
Soto is a tactician. He takes these massive, violent hacks but stays incredibly balanced. Ohtani, on the other hand, looked a bit out of sync early on. He needed a timeout. He looked gassed. They went to a swing-off—twice. The tension in the stadium was thick enough to cut with a generic stadium hot dog. Ultimately, Soto moved on, and the Ohtani dream ended early.
Was it a disappointment? Technically, yes. But that first-round battle remains one of the most viewed segments of any Derby in history. It proved that the format works. It’s not just about the biggest names winning; it’s about the drama of the head-to-head matchup. Soto’s "Soto Shuffle" even made an appearance, because of course it did.
That Trey Mancini Storyline
If you want to talk about the "human" element of the 2021 Home Run Derby, you have to talk about Trey Mancini. Just a year prior, he was undergoing chemotherapy for Stage 3 colon cancer. He wasn't even sure if he’d play baseball again, let alone be competing in a power showcase at 5,280 feet above sea level.
Mancini’s run to the finals was the emotional heart of the night. He beat Matt Olson. He beat Trevor Story—the hometown favorite. When he stood at the plate in the final round, the entire baseball world was basically screaming for him. He put up 22 in the final round, which is a massive number. In most years, that wins you the trophy.
✨ Don't miss: Joe E Legend: The Truth Behind Wrestling’s Most Underrated Traveler
But then Alonso happened.
Alonso stepped up and calmly knocked out 23 to walk it off. It was cold-blooded, but in a way that felt respectful. You don't take it easy on a guy like Mancini; you give him your best because that’s what he deserves.
By The Numbers: Physics in the Thin Air
The data from that night is still staggering to look back on. Because it was Denver, the Statcast numbers were breaking.
- Longest Blast: Trevor Story hit one 518 feet.
- Pete’s Total: 74 homers across three rounds.
- The Velocity: Juan Soto recorded a 114 mph exit velocity on a ball that seemed to never want to come down.
The "Coors Effect" is real. At sea level, the air provides more resistance. In Denver, the ball stays truer to its initial launch angle and velocity for longer. Basically, if you square it up, it stays squared up. This led to a record-breaking night for total distance covered by all participants combined.
What We Learned About Modern Baseball
The 2021 Home Run Derby was a turning point for how MLB markets its stars. We saw that fans care more about personality than just the result. We saw that the "pitcher" in the Derby is just as important as the hitter. Most importantly, we saw that Pete Alonso is the greatest Derby competitor of this generation, maybe ever. Sorry, Ken Griffey Jr. fans, but the sheer volume Pete puts up is statistically superior.
There’s also the fatigue factor. After this event, people started talking more about the "Derby Curse"—the idea that swinging this hard for two hours ruins your swing for the second half of the season. Interestingly, Alonso didn't really suffer from it. He’s built for this. Other guys, like Ohtani, took a minute to find their regular-season timing again.
How to Apply These Lessons if You’re a Fan (or a Bettor)
If you're looking back at this event to understand future Derbies, there are a few tactical takeaways that haven't changed.
Watch the Pitcher, Not the Hitter
Alonso won because Dave Jauss is a human pitching machine. When you're looking at future participants, check who they are bringing to the mound. If it’s a coach they’ve worked with for years, their chances of winning skyrocket.
Altitude Matters, But Endurance Matters More
Coors Field made the balls go further, but it also made the hitters tire out faster. In high-altitude environments, the "burnout" happens in the second round. Notice how many guys had a huge first round in 2021 but fell off a cliff in the semis?
The Power of the Timeout
The 2021 event showed that timing your breathers is a skill. Alonso used his timeouts to reset his heart rate. Mancini used his to soak in the crowd. Both made the finals. Ohtani waited too long to take his, and he struggled to find his rhythm until it was almost too late.
The 2021 Home Run Derby wasn't just a contest. It was a cultural moment for a sport that desperately needed to show it could be fun, loud, and slightly ridiculous. It gave us the "Polar Bear" in his natural habitat and a comeback story in Mancini that reminded everyone why we watch sports in the first place.
If you want to dive deeper into the stats, check out the official MLB Statcast leaderboards for that night. You'll see that the average home run distance was nearly 20 feet longer than the previous three years. That’s the magic of Denver.
Next Steps for Baseball Fans:
Go back and watch the 2021 first-round tiebreaker between Soto and Ohtani on YouTube. Pay attention to the swing-off rules—it’s a masterclass in high-pressure hitting. If you're heading to a game at Coors Field soon, sit in the bleachers; even in batting practice, the ball carries significantly further than you think. Keep an eye on Pete Alonso's career totals, as he is currently on pace to break every Derby record in the books.