New York Mets' Pete Alonso was made to compete in the Home Run Derby

By Jake Mintz
FOX Sports MLB Writer

DENVER — Pete Alonso was built for this.

Under a lavender Colorado sky, Alonso cemented his status as the league’s undisputed Home Run Derby champion. With a whopping 74 total home runs over three rounds Monday, the barrel-chested Floridian became only the third player to capture back-to-back Derby titles, joining Ken Griffey Jr and Yoenis Céspedes. His dominance was unquestioned, his title captured with relative ease.

If you could design a baseball player in a lab, it would look like Shohei Ohtani or Fernando Tatis Jr. But if you were to design a Home Run Derby champion in a lab, it would look exactly like Alonso. The Polar Bear’s swing is perfect for this event: his simple hand load, his soft leg lift, his remarkable raw strength. Not once Monday did he look remotely tired, and his title felt like a foregone conclusion from the moment he smacked his first bomb.

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Even before Ohtani, the major storyline heading into Derby night, was able to pick up a baseball bat, Alonso had stolen the show with a record 35 big flies in his first-round matchup against Salvador Perez. After that round’s final moonshot, Alonso pumped his fist and roared in delight, and for the rest of the evening, the Colorado crowd was his.

This victory firmly establishes Alonso as the Home Run Derby Guy™, a deserving title for someone who so clearly adores this event. His energy fits the Derby to a tee as well: intensely competitive enough that he can focus during his rounds but goofy and fun-loving enough that he doesn’t psych himself out by taking it too seriously. The Mets' slugger was relaxed when he needed to be, bopping his head along to "Shook Ones" during his timeouts, but locked in when the situation called for it — like when Trey Mancini put up a daunting 22 round-trippers in the final.

Despite coming up two blasts short, Mancini was the night’s other true winner, with the Orioles' icon making a triumphant return to the national baseball spotlight after missing all of last season while undergoing chemotherapy for colon cancer. His inclusion was one of the week’s biggest stories in the buildup, a heartwarming comeback tale for one of the sport’s most beloved humans. And with a statement 24 dingers as the night’s first hitter, Mancini put to rest any worry that his invitation was only for the feels.

With college pitching coach Chuck Ristano tossing perfectly rhythmic batting practice from the left side, Mancini got into a rhythm once he called a timeout after a slow start. He did not produce any particularly jaw-dropping shots but was consistent and methodical all night, launching tank after tank into the bleachers in left.

The Colorado crowd got behind him, especially once Coors Field emcee Ryan Spilborghs celebrated Mancini’s successful battle against cancer over the PA during his first timeout. And considering what Mancini and his family have been through the past 18 months, his "loss" Monday could not have felt more like a win.

One of the night’s more enduring memories came just after Mancini’s opening display, as Matt Olson came up just short of equaling his counterpart’s tater total. While the Athletics' left-handed slugger peppered the auxiliary press box in right field with laser beams, one particularly eager fan in the section adjacent took a nasty spill, going full-extension for a homer over the railing of the concourse tunnel and just missing the ball by inches. Thankfully, the valiant hero appeared to emerge unscathed, despite the impulsive leap.

No single figure demanded more attention from the Denver faithful than Ohtani. The international icon, competing in his first MLB Derby, got off to a painfully slow start while trying to match Juan Soto’s first-round mark of 22 long balls. Ohtani lined ball after ball after ball down the right-field line, and unfortunately for him, this was not a hard-hit doubles competition. 

Ohtani was clearly pressing — understandable, considering the unrealistic expectations heaped upon his hilariously wide shoulders. After his sixth consecutive non-home run to the same spot, the crowd began to groan. Some dummies booed.

At that moment, we were very much at risk of a Mark McGwire 1998 situation, when the most hyped hitter leading up to the event underperformed and left all in attendance underwhelmed. But then, seemingly in an instant, Ohtani turned the narrative around. After a mid-timeout phone call and some words of encouragement from none other than Mike Trout, the most spectacular baseball human being on planet earth caught fire. His line drives morphed into ballistic rockets, and by the end of his round, Ohtani had inexplicably evened things up with Soto.

Even though Soto eventually emerged victorious after an overtime round and a head-to-head, three-swing swing-off, Ohtani undeniably lived up to the hype. There was a minute-long period during his hot streak when the Denver crowd showered him with a stadium-rattling chant of "OH-TA-NI, OH-TA-NI!" The starting pitcher at Tuesday's Midsummer Classic (coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on FOX) finished the evening exhausted, his hands on his knees, but not in any way defeated.

As the temperature cooled and the sky darkened, the Ohtanis, Gallos, Storys, Sotos, Olsons and Perezes fell by the wayside, their performances valiant yet insufficient. They had their moments, sure — the coolest of which being former Rockie Nolan Arenado's pumping up the crowd during Trevor Story’s timeout — but this evening was Alonso’s, and Mancini’s, too, and the respect between the two finalists was obvious. 

And while Mancini put up one hell of a fight, as he is wont to do, he had absolutely no chance against the Home Run Derby machine that is Pete Alonso.

Ken Griffey Jr.’s three Derby wins are the most ever, a distinction he has held since his final win in 1999. But there’s no reason to think that in the years to come, Alonso won’t match or surpass Junior’s mark. If he does, there is no masher more deserving of picking up the torch. Griffey is iconic, but his Derby dominance is like the 12th-most notable thing about him. Alonso, on the other hand, is a walking home run, a fitting champion of baseball’s most joyous night.

The Derby is a night that turns us all back into children, unified in awe. It tickles our simplest and most childlike sensibilities: Ball go far. No one encapsulates that energy better than Alonso, the jolly Polar Bear, goofily lumbering around the batter’s box like a little kid having the time of his life, all the while launching rainbows into the Denver dusk. 

The Derby is fun, and so is Pete Alonso. He knows these truths and has no plans to stop now. This is just the beginning.

Jake Mintz is the louder half of @CespedesBBQ and a baseball analyst for FOX Sports. He’s an Orioles fan living in New York City, and thus, he leads a lonely existence most Octobers. If he’s not watching baseball, he’s almost certainly riding his bike. You can follow him on Twitter @Jake_Mintz.