Kansas athlete won MLB’s high school home run Derby with 50,000 people watching
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- Beau Peterson won the 2025 MLB High School Home Run Derby with nine homers.
- Peterson tied for second-most qualifying homers with 26, reaching the finals.
- Bobby Witt. Jr won the 2018 HS Home Run Derby
Beau Peterson usually hits home runs in front of small crowds at Kansas high school baseball games.
But on July 14, the 17-year-old from Mill Valley High School in Shawnee had a crowd of 50,000 watching as he stepped up to the plate in Truist Park.
Peterson hit nine home runs in 60 seconds — a performance good enough to win the 2025 MLB All-Star High School Home Run Derby.
Peterson is a rising senior and Texas Longhorn pledge who hit .467 with four home runs during his junior season.
He was one of only nine high school players invited to participate in the High School Home Run Derby, which was part of the July 11-15 MLB All-Star Week in Atlanta. Peterson was joined by fellow sunflower state athlete Keaton Neal of Spring Hill High School.
Peterson and fellow Texas commit Grady Emerson hit 26 home runs apiece to advance to the finals. That tied Peterson and Emerson for the second-most home runs hit in the qualifying stages, putting them alongside Bobby Witt Jr. (2018) and Sal Stewart (2021) in the record book.
Witt won the 2018 High School Home Run Derby when he outhit competitor Rece Hinds with eight home runs in 76 seconds.
Six years later, the Royals star was selected to take part in the 2024 Home Run Derby, where he made it all the way to the finals before finishing second to Teoscar Hernandez.
This story was originally published July 22, 2025 at 1:27 PM.
