Rosters revealed for HRDX: Albuquerque 

The Home Run Derby X season is underway! After blasting homers out of a packed Parkview Field in Fort Wayne, Ind., the action is back in Albuquerque -- home of the Isotopes!

The competition, which not only highlights light-tower power but defense as well, is a showdown between four co-ed teams of three.

Each team has a former Major League star, a women's baseball or softball standout, and a local player who is ready to show off their skills and take on some pros.

The rules are a little different from derbies you may be used to. Click here for more information, but here's a quick primer:

- Each batter gets two minutes and 30 seconds to take as many swings as possible.

- They get one point for every home run -- with an extra point being awarded for a ball that flies through the outfield target.

- During each at-bat, hitters can call for a "hot streak." They'll get double points for every ball they hit during the hot streak.

- The defense can make plays, too. For every ball they catch, they earn one point. If it's during a hot streak? They get two.

• Get your tickets to HRDX: Albuquerque here

Here are the rosters for the four teams -- each donning one of the Isotopes' iconic identities -- that will be taking the field at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park.

Team 1: Isotopes

Ian Desmond

A two-time All-Star and a three-time Silver Slugger Award winner, Desmond played 11 Major League seasons -- most notably with the Nationals from 2009-15. Though he came up as a shortstop, Desmond eventually saw time at nearly every position save for catcher and third base. He finished his big league career with 181 home runs ... and 181 stolen bases.

Desmond made his HRDX debut last season in Fredericksburg, helping lead his team -- the Freddies -- to victory.

Ashton Lansdell

A HRDX veteran since 2022, Lansdell has seen and done it all on the ballfield. A trailblazing infielder, Lansdell made the USA Baseball roster at just 17 years old in 2018 and was the first woman to play baseball at the NJCAA level in 2021. After switching her focus to softball, she played at FIU for two seasons before recently announcing her transfer to Ole Miss ahead of next season.

Lansdell also entered this year leading all women's HRDX players with 82 dingers. She added 10 more home runs while playing in Fort Wayne last week.

Rob Stratton

Hitting home runs is nothing new to Stratton. A former first-round Draft pick by the Mets in 1996, Stratton hit 197 home runs across 11 Minor League seasons, including 32 with the Isotopes in 2003. Stratton won the derby at the 2003 Triple-A All-Star Game and, after retiring in 2006, was invited to participate again in 2007. Naturally, he won again.

"My favorite highlight has been watching my 6 year-old twins play baseball starting at age 4 and enjoy a sport that was so good to me," Stratton wrote ahead of HRDX. "Hitting a round ball with a round bat and hitting it square doesn’t compare to anything else in the world."

Sammy Serrano

A 1st Team Freshman All-American in 1996 and a 1st Team All-American in 1998 at Stetson University, Serrano was drafted in the 2nd round by the San Francisco Giants. Unfortunately, his career ended in 2002 following a shoulder injury. Since then, he has coached at the college level and has served various coaching and evaluation roles for USA baseball since 2008. He is now a coach for the Pro5 Academy. His son, Eli Serrano, was recently drafted in the 4th round by the New York Mets.

Team 2: Green Chile Cheeseburgers

Jonny Gomes

Along with bashing 162 career home runs, Gomes was known as a consummate winner and team player. A two-time World Series champion with the Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals, the bearded outfielder also won the first Home Run Derby X title in 2022. Gomes is a true baseball lifer, regularly laying his body out on the line to make the catch. He led the 2022 HRDX tour with 21 catches.

This is his first HRDX event of 2024.

Alex Hugo

Another veteran from HRDX's first campaign in '22, Hugo has won ballgames and accolades wherever she's gone. The only two-time US Sportswoman of the Year Award winner, Hugo recently represented Team USA at the Women's Baseball World Cup, where the team won silver. A former softball star at the University of Georgia and in the National Pro Fastpitch league, Hugo helped the U.S. win gold at the 2019 Pan-American Championships and earned the Most Valuable Player Award at last year's World Cup group stage.

Hugo was the star at the Ft. Wayne event, leading the way with 41 points on 27 home runs.

Jared Mang

Mang has a very personal connection to this edition of HRDX: He's engaged to the Cheeseburgers' Andrea Howard. (You'll learn more about her momentarily.) A former 18th round Draft pick by the Tigers out of the University of New Mexico, Mang hit .339 with 25 home runs during his college career. Before that, he was named the New Mexico Gatorade Player of the Year in 2014 and 2015.

Justin Kunz

A four-year standout at Gardner-Webb University, Kunz collected All-American and First-Team All Conference player awards during his stay there. Kunz hit .319 with 11 home runs in his senior season before being selected by the Angels in the 2019 Draft. The youngest BP pitcher at HRDX, Kunz now coaches at Pro5 Baseball Academy.

Kunz was on the mound to help Hugo and the rest of the Fort Wayne Tenderloins take home the title.

New Mexico Lobos

Ryan Zimmerman

Mr. National himself. The first Draft pick for the Nationals in 2005, Zimmerman played all 16 years of his big league career for the team. Zimmerman hit 284 career home runs, drove in 1,061 runs, was elected to two All-Star Games and won one Gold Glove Award and two Silver Sluggers. His No. 11 was the first retired by the Nationals in 2022.

Andrea Howard

A New Mexico softball legend, Howard holds the all-time University of New Mexico record for home runs (47) and total bases (380). Her slugging percentage, career walks and runs batted in are second-best in school history and her on-base percentage is fourth. During one incredible stretch of her career, she was intentionally walked 16 times in six games -- something she fortunately won't need to worry about at HRDX.

She was recently named to the 25th Anniversary Mountain West team and represented the Italian national softball team at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. She's engaged to Cheeseburgers player Jared Mang.

Gene Trujillo

Trujillo is coming off his freshman season at the University of New Mexico, hitting .304 with four home runs in his debut season. He started his college career with a bang, too: his first college hit was a home run that run-ruled the South Dakota State Jackrabbits to give UNM a 13-2 victory.

"[HRDX] is an opportunity to meet a lot of new people and some legends in the game," Trujillo said. "I wanted to learn from them and ask a lot of questions."

Jay Stott

Stott is the current GM of the Pro5 Baseball academy and a respected force in international baseball. A former UNC Wilmington college player, Stott has held clinics in Germany, Hungary, Spain, Austria, Slovakia among others and helped coach the Czech National Team at the 2019 European Championships.

Mariachis de Nuevo Mexico

Manny Ramirez

"Manny being Manny" is back! The legendary slugger with one of the sweetest right-handed swings in baseball history will make his HRDX debut in Albuquerque. The native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, played 19 seasons and finished his career with a .312 average and 555 home runs -- 15th most in big league history.

Jocelyn Alo

When talking home runs, you can begin and end with Alo. The Oklahoma Sooners superstar won two Women's College World Series titles with the Sooners and finished as the all-time NCAA leader -- among men and women -- in home runs with 122, total bases (761) and slugging percentage (.987). She helped the Red Sox win HRDX 2022, earned Sports Illustrated's Female Athlete of the Year Award that same year, and was selected first overall by the Smash It Vipers in the Women's Professional Fastpitch draft.

Alo has hit the longest home run in HRDX history and hit 23 home runs in her appearance in Fort Wayne.

Jared Gay

Gay has crushed dingers wherever he's gone. After starting as a walk-on at Eastern New Mexico, he finished his career at Adams State where he set the then-single-season HR record with 9 home runs. He then played two seasons in the Pecos League, becoming the only hitter to lead the league in home runs in back-to-back seasons before finishing his playing career with the Houston Apollos of the American Association.

His two greatest playing memories are also both home runs: His first was a 3-run walk-off home run -- his second of the game -- against CSU-Pueblo in his senior season, as well as a walk-off home run while playing in Santa Fe in a game his brother started.

"I do like to think that all of my home runs were highlights," Gay wrote.

Dave Jauss

Jauss just may be the man you want to call when hosting a home run derby. A near-constant presence at the MLB HR Derby as one of the pitchers to help deliver a title to Pete Alonso, Jauss has done practically any and everything in his 40-plus year career in pro baseball. His greatest accomplishment may have come in 2004, though: That year he was the advance scout for the Boston Red Sox when they broke an 86-year championship drought.