There is nothing more exciting in watching a major league baseball game than the home run. The precision and power that it takes to hit a pitch thrown at 90 miles-per-hour-plus is one of sports’ great feats.
As the 2021 MLB season gets ready to kick off on April 1, it’s time to start taking a look at who will be this year’s king of the home run.
With the shortened season last year, the numbers didn’t look so great. In just 53 games, Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna led the National League with 18 and the Yankees’ Luke Voit hit 22 to lead the American League and all of MLB.
Who will capture the crown in 2021?
This Year’s Favorites
Mike Trout will always be a favorite to be the home run king until he leaves the game. He is the game’s best player, but he has never won a home run crown. He came close in 2019 with 45 homers in 134 games. Trout finished second to Jorge Soler’s 48 that year. Healthy and ready to go in 2021, Trout is a +900 favorite to win his first home run title.
The overall favorite is the Mets’ Pete Alonso. As a rookie in 2019, Alonso broke the record for most homers by a first-year player with 53. That led the National League and earned Alonso the Rookie of the Year award. The Mets 1B is listed at +800 to win the home run crown in 2021.
The Top Contenders
There are plenty of power hitters that can contend for the home run king in 2021. Two of the game’s biggest sluggers are in New York. Aaron Judge led the AL in 2017 with 52 homers as a rookie. It was Judge’s record that Alonso broke in 2019.
Teammate Giancarlo Stanton won NL home run king honors in 2014 and 2017. Both Stanton and Judge have suffered from injuries over the past three seasons. Judge is listed at +1200 and Stanton at +1800 to win this year.
There is also Washington Nationals star Juan Soto who hit .351 with 13 homers in 47 games last year. In his first full season in the majors in 2019, Soto hit 34 homers. That’s why he is given +1200 odds to be crowned home run champion in 2021.
Rising Atlanta star Ronald Acuna Jr. is given the same odds (+1200). Acuna had a breakout season in 2019 with 41 homers. He hit 14 last year in 46 games.
Another long-ball hitter with promise is Texas 1B Joey Gallo. He hit 40-plus homers in 2017 and 2018 before getting hurt after hitting 22 in 2019.
The Pick
Nolan Arenado has won or tied for three home run titles in the past six years. He will no longer play home games in the hitter-friendly Coors Field though making him a longshot at +3300.
Voit is also a longshot at +2800 despite being the fifth- or sixth-most feared hitter in the Yankees lineup. He will likely face some good pitches in 2021.
Trout is so good that he will contend for the home run title, but more than likely he’ll be in the MVP running because of outstanding all-around game. The same is true of San Diego star Fernando Tatis Jr. who is listed at +1600 to be the home run king.
The one guy that will stand out above the rest; the guy that will see enough pitches; the guy who simply crushes the ball is … Alonso. He’ll put up big numbers again in 2021 and capture the home run crown.
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