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Former college baseball players who have won the MLB Home Run Derby
Former college baseball players who have won the MLB Home Run Derby
Only 14 university stars continued the first place in MLB Home Run Derby since the All-Star weekend event was introduced in 1985. The latest was the product of Florida State Cal Raleigh, who won the 2021 event in the Truist of Atlanta, Seattle Mariners. It was his first victory in Derby.
Before Raleigh, Pete Alonso became the first former college baseball player to win his back Derbys. This made Alonso the third player to do so, joined Ken Griffey Jr. (1998-99) and Yoenis awardedes (2013-14).
Let’s look back at the complete list of former college baseball players to lift the trophy:
| YEAR | PLAYER | MLB team | COLLEGE | MLB HRS career | Ncaa hrs career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Wally Joyner* | Californian Angels | Byu (1981-83) | 204 | 43 |
| 1987 | Andre Dawson | Chicago Cubs | Florida A & M (1973-75) | 438 | Statistics n/a |
| 1992 | Mark McGwire | Oakland Athletics | USC (1982-84) | 583 | 53 |
| 1995 | Frank Thomas | Chicago White Sox | Auburn (1987-89) | 521 | 49 |
| 1996 | Barry Bonds | San Francisco Giants | Arizona State (1983-85) | 762 | 45 |
| 1997 | Tino martinez | New York Yankees | Tampa (1986-88) | 339 | 54 |
| 2001 | Luis Gonzalez | Arizona Diamondbacks | South Alabama (1987-88) | 354 | 23 |
| 2002 | Jason Giambius | New York Yankees | Long Beach State (1990-92) | 440 | 1992 statistics n/a |
| 2006 | Ryan Howard | Philadelphia Phillies | Missouri State (1998-01) | 382 | 50 |
| 2015 | Todd Frazier | Cincinnati Reds | Rutgers (2005-07) | 218 | 42 |
| 2017 | Aaron judge | New York Yankees | FRESNO STATE (2011-13) | 350 ** | 18 |
| 2018 | Bryce Harper | Washington Nationals | College of Southern Nevada (njcaa)# (2010) | 346 ** | 31 |
| 2019, 2021 | Pete Alonso | New York Mets | Florida (2014-16) | 247 ** | 23 |
| 2025 | Cal Raleigh | Seattle Mariners | Florida State (2016-18) | 131 ** | 32 |
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#Junior College
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*Indicates that the player was a co -founder
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** indicates an active sum of K 15 July 2025
These are 14 different winners spread out on 10 different conferences and two divisions in NCAA – Dawson played for Florida A&M when Rattlers played in division II – with another Junior College (Harper). The only two NCAA conferences with more than one representative are PAC-12 (McGwire, Bonds) and Sec (Frank Thomas and Pete Alonso).
