Dumper's Derby: Raleigh first C to take HR crown

ATLANTA -- Seattle Mariners star and MLB home run leader Cal Raleigh became the first catcher to win the All-Star Home Run Derby as he outlasted Tampa Bay Rays infielder Junior Caminero in the final Monday night.

Raleigh hit 18 home runs to Caminero's 15 in the final round.

Raleigh, known as the "Big Dumper," joins Ken Griffey Jr. as the only two Mariners to win the event.

"Usually, the guy that's leading the league in homers doesn't win the whole thing," Raleigh said. "That's as surprising to me as anybody else."

Raleigh was pitched to by his father, Todd, the former coach of Tennessee and Western Carolina. Raleigh's younger brother, Todd Raleigh Jr., did the catching.

"Anybody that's ever played baseball as a kid dreams of stuff like this," Cal's dad said. "I dreamed of it. He dreamed of it. When you're a parent, you look at it differently because you want your kids to be happy."

Raleigh was almost eliminated in Round 1 when he and Athletics outfielder Brent Rooker tied with 17 home runs, but the M's slugger won the tiebreaker by the slimmest of margins, as his longest home run traveled 470.61 feet to Rooker's 470.53.

"An inch off and I'm not even in the final four, which is amazing," Raleigh said. "So, I guess I got lucky there: one extra biscuit."

Raleigh totaled 54 homers on the night. His brother, nicknamed T, kept yelling encouragement to the brother he so admires.

"His swag, the way he plays, the way he hustles," T said.

Caminero, Raleigh, Oneil Cruz and Byron Buxton advanced past a Round 1 that featured the lowest total in over a decade after New York Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit only three homers.

"It was fun," Chisholm said afterward. "I had a lot of fun. I enjoyed every second of it. You can't ask for a better feeling. I'm still an All-Star. I still hit in the Home Run Derby. Who could ask for a better experience than that?"

Cruz produced the highlight of the first round when he blasted a 513-foot home run, the longest of the evening. He is the sixth player to hit a Derby homer of 500-plus feet since Statcast started tracking it in 2016. He's only the second to do so outside of Coors Field.

Cruz averaged 447 feet in Round 1 but got beat by Raleigh in the semis when the latter hit 19.

Raleigh wowed the crowd when he hit both left-handed and right-handed during his first round, blasting 10 from the left side and another seven from the right side. He is the first switch-hitter to win the event.

Meanwhile, Rooker expressed confusion over his final moments in Round 1, when each player was given 40 pitches and three minutes to hit home runs.

"They told me before I went up there that I could take two pitches, but I didn't know when they told me that there were only 40 balls already in the crate," Rooker said. "So, I took two pitches that didn't count, but when we went to do the round, there was only 38 remaining. So, we got down to having two pitches with five seconds left and they're out of baseballs."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.