Middletown’s Kyle Schwarber favored to win MLB Home Run Derby tonight

He faces Albert Pujols, No. 8 seed, in the first round

Middletown’s Kyle Schwarber, in his first season with the Philadelphia Phillies, is a slight favorite to win the Major League Home Run Derby tonight in Dodger Stadium.

The annual T-Mobile Home Run Derby will air at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

Schwarber, who has 29 homers at the All-Star break, second only to the Yankees’ Aaron Judge, is the No. 1 seed, while Mets Pete Alonso, a two-time winner of the Derby, is the No. 2 seed.

Schwarber faces St. Louis Cardinal Albert Pujols, the No. 8 seed, in the first round.

The eight-slugger field features a bracket format with seeding based off 2022 home runs. Here are the other first-round matchups:

  • No. 2 Pete Alonso, Mets vs. No. 7 Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves
  • No. 3 Corey Seager, Rangers vs. No. 6 Julio Rodríguez, Mariners
  • No. 4 Juan Soto, Nationals vs. No. 5 José Ramírez, Guardians

This will be Schwarber’s second appearance in the Home Run Derby. The 29-year-old finished second to Bryce Harper in 2018.

Alonso, 27, hopes to become the first player to win three consecutive derbies. He hit 74 home runs in last year’s event at Coors Field and his 131 career derby homers are more than any player in history.

Schwarber, who signed a four-year, $79 million contract as a free agent, is nine homers short of his career high he set with the Chicago Cubs in 2019. He was drafted by the Cubs out of Indiana University. He has 182 career homers.

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