Aidan McCarthy wins 2026 MLW Home Run Derby with 55 homers

Aidan McCarthy won the 2026 MLW Home Run Derby with 55 total home runs, and MLW said he was the top performer in all three rounds as he closed with the kind of finish that can define a player’s standing in the league. The league also said McCarthy became the first person from outside Michigan to win the event in 17 years, giving the title historical weight inside a derby built to showcase raw power.

That matters because this was not just a one-swing burst. McCarthy’s 55-homer total came across all three rounds, which makes the win look more like sustained command of the format than a brief heater. In a sport where the ball’s movement can reward timing as much as strength, leading every round is the cleaner measure of power profile than a single viral cut.

MLW pushed the moment across its channels. The league posted the derby on YouTube in a July 24 video titled “2026 HOME RUN DERBY | MLW Wiffle Ball,” and the description said the derby was here while also pointing fans toward tickets for the July 25 Chicago Series at Curtis Granderson Stadium. That same social push framed McCarthy as more than a clip-worthy finisher, with a TikTok post highlighting his final round as the decisive swing that won it.

The reel also sat beside real game results, not just showcase content. Visible text tied to the post noted Richmond El Heaters’ comeback stretch, with Game 2 ending 4-2 and Game 3 finishing 3-1. Those scores kept the league’s competitive side in view even as McCarthy owned the marquee individual moment, a reminder that MLW’s biggest posts now mix star power with series outcomes.

That balance has become part of the league’s business identity. The Athletic described MLW Wiffle Ball in 2021 as a neighborhood league among friends that had grown into a business, and McCarthy’s derby win shows how that business works now: one player’s power display can be packaged across Instagram, X, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube as both a championship result and a league-defining moment. For McCarthy, 55 homers did more than win a derby. It put him at the center of MLW’s current power conversation.