The Home Run Derby field is locked in, and the White Sox made the final call Monday night by announcing that first baseman Munetaka Murakami will be in the 2026 event.
That fills out the group that will take the stage at Citizens Bank Park on Monday at 7 pm CT. The full lineup: Jac Caglianone of the Royals, Junior Caminero of the Rays, Willson Contreras of the Red Sox, Bryce Harper of the Phillies, Murakami of the White Sox, Ben Rice of the Yankees, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies, and Walker of the Cardinals.
Schwarber arrives as the league’s home run leader with 32, and he’s on pace to push toward 50 again after blasting a career-high 56 in 2025. He’ll also be doing it in front of the home crowd, with Phillies teammate Harper joining him. Harper won the 2018 Derby in D.C. while with the Nationals, and he beat Schwarber in the final round that year.
Murakami brings a different kind of power profile to the event. He becomes only the second Japanese-born player to take part in the Derby, following Shohei Ohtani’s appearance in 2021 with the Angels.
Murakami was trading the AL home run lead with Aaron Judge before a hamstring injury knocked him out at the end of May. Even with that setback, he has 20 homers in his first 200 MLB at-bats.
His power has long been part of the package, too - during his time in Nippon Professional Baseball, he put up a 56-homer season in 2022.
Walker has also turned himself into one of the league’s biggest bats in his fourth big-league season. He came into the year with 27 career home runs and has already added 22 more in 2026. He leads the league in RBI.
Caminero is back after coming up short against Cal Raleigh in last year’s final. He’s riding a massive power tear, with 11 home runs in his last 14 games heading into Friday. That surge has pushed him to third in the AL in home runs, two behind Yordan Alvarez and one behind Rice.
The format is changing again this year, with the Derby going back to swings instead of timed rounds. Players will get 20 swings in the opening round, and the top four advance.
The semifinals and finals will each use 15 swings in a head-to-head format. A round cannot end on a home run, so if a player goes deep on the final swing, he keeps going until he finally misses.
In Other News...
White Sox Just Made A Bold Bet With Recent MLB Talent
The White Sox added another layer to their recent roster-and-rebuild juggling act by turning a package of young talent into a premium draft asset. Chicago landed the 34th overall pick in the upcoming MLB draft, a Competitive Balance Round A selection, while also bringing in left-handed pitching prospect Jaden Woods in a deal that sent Jacob Gonzalez and left-handed reliever Brandon Eisert to Pittsburgh.
For a club still sorting out its long-term core, the move is notable because it gives the front office more draft capital while also clearing room for another organization to plug in a recent major league debutant. Gonzalez had just reached the big leagues with Chicago, but the White Sox clearly viewed the chance to add a high-end pick as worth the cost, especially with the draft now offering another path to reshape the system. [Read more 🡒]
Tristan Peters Delivers A Rare White Sox Milestone Fans Wont Forget
Tristan Peters gave Rate Field a moment worth filing away for years, turning a routine game against the Athletics into one of the rarest nights in White Sox history. The center fielder completed the cycle with a triple in the seventh inning, a fitting final piece to a performance that put him in a very small club and added another memorable chapter to a season in which he has emerged as a real bright spot for Chicago.
For a team still sorting through its long-term identity, Peters has been one of the more encouraging developments since arriving from Tampa Bay in a cash deal last December. He has been productive across the board and, with this latest milestone, has given White Sox fans something beyond the usual nightly box score to remember, even if the bigger question around his place in the lineup now feels a little more interesting than it did a few weeks ago. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Just Added Serious Draft Firepower With A Surprising Trade
The White Sox added another layer to their draft haul by landing the 34th pick in Saturdays draft, along with the associated slot value, in a trade with Pittsburgh. That move gives Chicago three of the first 41 selections and the largest bonus pool for the 2026 draft, a clear sign the front office is leaning hard into adding young talent and maximizing its flexibility at the top of the board.
Chicago also brought in Triple-A left-hander Jaden Woods, giving the deal a little more than just draft capital. The Pirates, meanwhile, got players they expect to help their major league roster quickly, which is the kind of return that usually makes a trade feel balanced in the moment, even if the long-term payoff is still very much to be determined. [Read more 🡒]