ESPN’s 2026 MLB Bat Flip Championship Belt tracker

We’re trying something new at ESPN this baseball season: We’re going to crown a 2026 bat flip champion. The days of the bat flip being controversial are over as players can flip and toss, and enjoy their home runs without hesitation (well, for the most part).

This will be an ongoing file to be updated throughout the season. We will crown the initial winner of the Bat Flip Championship belt and then, whenever a worthy competitor enters the ring, he or she will square off against the current holder to see whose Bat Flip comes out on top and takes the belt away.

Whoever ends the season with the belt will be the 2026 champion.

Our first showdown of the season to crown the inaugural holder of the belt Randy Arozarena of seattle mariners And Gavin Sheets of San Diego PadresGoes along to their house on Friday nights. Let the fight begin!

Randy Arozarena vs. Gavin Sheets

Let’s start with Arozarena, who hit his first home run of 2026 into the second deck in left field at T-Mobile Park, a 426-foot blast to a part of the ballpark rarely reached. He styled the home run effortlessly, almost kneeling on one knee and holding the bat skyward as he watched the ball fly over the fence. tossing the bat for a long time with both hands As he began his move… which, by the way, lasted 31.54 seconds, the fifth-longest move of the young season:

Call that ball Artemis because it went to the moon and back 🚀 pic.twitter.com/lJxxZohvWT

– Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) 11 April 2026

That wasn’t the end of Arozarena’s celebration. The Mariners entered the game in the midst of a deep offensive slump, hitting .184 as a team. Arozarena hoisted Seattle’s home run trident into the air on the top step of the dugout, wowing the crowd of approximately 45,000. Ichiro Suzuki statue unveiled In frenzy. He then high-fived his teammates and walked toward the dugout camera, where he began playing the trident like a guitar.

“We’re coming off a tough road trip,” Arozarena told reporters after the game. “So I think this moment puts us in a good place.”

Later that night at Petco Park, Sheets hit his second home run of the game, a dramatic three-run, walk-off blast to give the Padres a 5–2 victory. colorado rockies. What made it cool was that Sheets crushed it when the crowd was chanting “Holy Sheets”, a chant that had started last season:

Gavin Sheets shuts it down!

@PADRES do it again! pic.twitter.com/mPHAYJqKXG

– MLB (@MLB) 11 April 2026

Wearing his new City Connect jersey for the first time, Sheets’ blast traveled 434 feet and gave the Padres a walk-off win for the second consecutive night. As he headed toward first base, he held the bat for a few seconds and finally threw it away with a single-handed sidearm motion.

Winner: Arozarena.

No doubt, Sheets’ home run was more dramatic. But this bat flip is for the championship belt, not the walk-off championship belt, so Arozarena wins with the total package: knee drop, spiked bat, long toss and, as a little extra credit, guitar simulation.

Randy, the belt is yours!