Some will disappear into the familiar rows behind the right-field wall. Others will reach the second deck, rattle the scoreboard or send fans along Ashburn Alley turning their backs and looking skyward.
And then there will be the baseball everyone is waiting for — the one hit toward a place where baseballs almost never land.
That is the promise of the Home Run Derby at Citizens Bank Park. The ballpark will not merely host the competition. Its decks, angles, concourses and recognizable outfield landmarks will become part of it, turning every towering drive into a question:
Where is that one going?
Bryce Harper has already identified the possibilities.
“Seeing a ball go way up into the third deck, over Ashburn Alley or off the scoreboard,” Harper told MLB.com reporters Steve Kornacki and Todd Zolecki while explaining the kind of extraordinary home run that could elevate the spectacle.
Harper was discussing an idea to use aluminum bats during the Derby’s golden-ball portion, but the targets remain relevant with wood. Citizens Bank Park offers something most stadiums cannot: a collection of clearly defined destinations that allow the crowd to measure a home run before the distance appears on a screen.
The right-field foul pole stands 330 feet from home plate. The right-field power alley extends to 369. Straightaway center reaches 401, while Monty’s Angle creates a 409-foot challenge in left-center. The park’s distinctive construction break also lowers the right-field pavilion approximately 20 feet, pulling those seats closer to the field and creating another inviting target for left-handed power.
Harper and Kyle Schwarber know that geography better than anyone in the field. They know which fly balls scrape over the wall, which drives reach the second deck and which swings produce the unmistakable sound that tells everyone inside the building to stop watching the outfielder.
Schwarber believes the Derby’s swing-based format will allow the crowd to appreciate those moments. Without hitters racing as aggressively against a clock, fans will have more time to “actually see where it lands,” Schwarber told Kornacki and Zolecki.
At Citizens Bank Park, the landing place is the story.
Larry Bowa knows the difference. He spent his Phillies career at Veterans Stadium, a massive multipurpose building where the walls felt distant and, as he recalled, hitters had to earn every home run.
“This one, they might be taking the upper deck down with these guys as big and strong as they are, and the way the ball jumps in Philly,” Bowa told Christian Red of The Philadelphia Inquirer while discussing the Derby’s return.
Pete Alonso offered an opposing hitter’s scouting report that was even more direct.
“The Bank is a fun place to hit. The ball flies,” Alonso told NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury during spring training. Alonso, a two-time Derby champion and longtime National League East visitor, also pointed to the energy Philadelphia’s crowd brings to the ballpark.
The dimensions alone do not explain the anticipation. Citizens Bank Park is intimate enough that the upper decks appear reachable, yet imposing enough that actually reaching them remains extraordinary.
Ryan Howard understands how extraordinary.
Howard remains the only player to hit a home run that landed in the third deck during a game at Citizens Bank Park. At the unveiling of the 2026 All-Star Game logo last summer, he made his expectations clear.
“I’m expecting somebody to go in the third deck,” Howard told MLB.com’s Paul Casella. “I’ll be very disappointed if they don’t.”
That is the challenge now.
Harper wants the third deck, Ashburn Alley or the scoreboard. Schwarber wants the crowd to follow every flight. Bowa believes the upper deck could be under assault. Alonso says the ball flies. Howard expects someone to reach the place only he has reached in a game.
The Derby will produce totals, distances and eventually a champion.
Philadelphia may remember something else.
Where the longest one finally came down.
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