The 2026 Home Run Derby field is set, and for the second straight year, the Dodgers won’t have a player in the mix. Even so, Los Angeles will still have a familiar face involved in the event.
Third base coach Dino Ebel is headed to Citizens Bak Park after Phillies All-Star Bryce Harper asked him to pitch to him in the Derby, according to David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports. With no Dodgers player taking part, Ebel said yes.
“I’ve always said, if somebody ever asked me on another team, wanted me to throw, and there was nobody on my team, which is the Dodgers, that are participating, I’m in,” he said during an appearance on “DodgerTalk.”
Ebel said the chance to do it again is appealing on its own.
“I think one, it’s a challenge for me personally to face a guy you don’t throw to very often. I got a chance to throw to (Kyle )Schwarber in the WBC. So if anybody calls and they want me to throw for them on Monday night in Philadelphia, I’ll be there waiting for them.”
That kind of assignment is nothing new for Ebel. He has already built a strong Derby résumé, having thrown soft toss for 2007 champion Vladimir Guerrero and later for Teoscar Hernández, who became the first player from the Dodgers organization to win the event. Ebel was also on the mound for Kyle Schwarber during last year’s first-ever All-Star Game swing-off.
Harper will be making his third Derby appearance. His previous trips came in 2013 and 2018, and he won the title in 2018 as the hometown player for the Washington Nationals.
Schwarber later made sure Ebel got his due after the 2025 All-Star Game swing-off drew plenty of attention. The Phillies slugger credited Ebel for the work behind the scenes.
“Luckily, I’ve faced Dino in the World Baseball Classic. He was on the coaching staff.
He’s got great BP,” Schwarber said at the time. “A lot of credit goes to him, too, just kind of getting thrown into the firestorm there and not being rattled by it, being able to keep pumping really good strikes to us.
“Having the familiarity, and he asked me right before, he was like, ‘Where do you want it?’ I’m like, just middle. And he’s like, ‘I gotcha.’
“So a lot of credit goes to him, too, for the National League bringing it home.”
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