We're going to try something new here at ESPN this baseball season: We're going to crown the bat flip champion of 2026. The days of bat flips being controversial are over as players can flip and toss and enjoy their home runs with impunity (well, for the most part).
This will be a running file that we'll update throughout the season. We'll crown the initial winner of the Bat Flip Championship Belt and then, whenever a worthy competitor enters the ring, he'll square off with the current champion to see whose bat flip comes out on top and whether the belt gets passed on.
Whoever finishes the season with the belt is the 2026 bat flip champion.
Josh Naylor is the reigning holder of the Bat Flip Championship Belt after beating out his Seattle Mariners teammate, Randy Arozarena, who was crowned in the inaugural showdown ... or, we should say, Naylor was the reigning champion. Not anymore, following a gravity-defying toss Sunday.
Entering the ring: William Contreras.
Current showdown
William Contreras vs. Josh Naylor
Contreras didn't flip his bat so much as launch it to the moon. This bat needed the crew of Artemis II to control its trajectory.
The situation: Contreras stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning with two runners on base and his Milwaukee Brewers losing 1-0 to the Miami Marlins. Facing Marlins closer Pete Fairbanks, Contreras fell behind 0-2 and then began to battle. He took a fastball up, checked his swing on a slider that backed up as the ball glanced off the bat knob, fouled off a 99-mph fastball and then crushed a cutter that didn't cut. The blast sailed over the fence in center field and off the railing above the wall for a 411-foot, walk-off home run.
It was Contreras' second career walk-off home run, and he enjoyed it. Oh, did he enjoy it. Contreras watched the ball fly over the fence, took a few steps toward first base as he held his bat in both hands, wound up like a softball pitcher and then tossed the bat high into the air with his right arm while then raising both arms above his head in victory.
WILLIAM CONTRERAS WALK-OFF BLAST! pic.twitter.com/iDNu7OS5OU
— MLB (@MLB) July 19, 2026
Milwaukee center fielder Garrett Mitchell, watching from the on-deck circle, estimated the toss at 40 feet.
"He's learning to express himself," manager Pat Murphy said of Contreras.
Contreras said it was all he could think to do in the moment.
Social media went bonkers, with some calling it the highest celebratory bat toss in league history. Others demanded a different angle to see where the bat landed (Mitchell confirmed that it landed in foul territory and not in the stands, with nobody harmed in the process). Others called it "disrespectful" (in a good way, if you're a Brewers fan) or, simply, the bat flip of the year. We agree.
The winner: Contreras
This one is going to be difficult -- impossible? -- to beat.
Previous showdowns
Battle No. 2: Josh Naylor vs. Randy Arozarena
Ali-Frazier. Borg-McEnroe. Bird-Magic. Rock-Austin.
OK, OK ... maybe it's a little premature to compare Arozarena and Naylor to some of the other great battles in sports history, but the contest for the Bat Flip Championship Belt is officially on.
Arozarena won the season's first showdown to claim the belt, beating out Gavin Sheets of the San Diego Padres. Arozarena's title came courtesy of a 426-foot blast into the upper deck in left field at T-Mobile Park and a two-handed long toss, punctuated with a slow trot around the bases and then playing Seattle's home run trident like a guitar in front of the dugout camera.
Exquisite showmanship.
Now entering the ring ... his Mariners teammate.
Naylor signed a five-year, $92 million contract with the Mariners in the offseason after helping them reach the American League Championship Series last season, but he began 2026 in a horrible slump, hitting .102 without a home run through his first 15 games. He's finally heating up and has hit .455 over his past nine games, including going 3-for-4 with a home run in Tuesday's win at Minnesota.
The homer was a 390-foot blast onto the concourse beyond the right-field bleachers -- and Naylor enjoyed every second of it. First, he stepped backward into the opposite batter's box as he watched the ball fly out of the park. Then the nonchalant but impressive flip -- high and behind him. Naylor is known for these kinds of flips, but this might have been his best.
As one reader on the Mariners' Instagram account put it: "We love a sassy bat flip."
This one indeed had plenty of sass. It's the step into the right-handed batter's box, however, that makes it extra special. And he had a big flip, whereas Arozarena's was really more of a toss.
The winner: Naylor
We have crowned a new champion. Josh Naylor, the belt now belongs to you.
Battle No. 1: 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 stylized the home run with flair, nearly dropping to one knee and keeping the bat pointed to the sky as he watched out the ball soar way over the fence, then long-tossing the bat with both hands as he began his trot ... which, by the way, lasted 31.54 seconds, the fifth longest trot of the young season:
Call that ball Artemis because it went to the moon and back 🚀 pic.twitter.com/lJxxZohvWT
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) April 11, 2026
That wasn't the end of Arozarena's celebration. The Mariners entered the game mired in a deep offensive slump, hitting .184 as a team. Arozarena hoisted Seattle's home run trident into the air at the top step of the dugout, sending a crowd of nearly 45,000 that was on hand for the unveiling of the Ichiro Suzuki statue into a frenzy. Then he high-fived his teammates and walked toward the dugout camera, where he started playing the trident like a guitar.
"We're coming off of a tough road trip," Arozarena told reporters after the game. "So I think to have this moment, it 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 win over the Colorado Rockies. What made this one cool is that Sheets crushed it as the crowd was chanting "Holy Sheets," a chant that began last season:
GAVIN SHEETS WALKS IT OFF!
— MLB (@MLB) April 11, 2026
THE @PADRES DO IT AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/mPHAYJqKXG
Wearing their new City Connect jerseys for the first time, Sheets' blast traveled 434 feet and gave the Padres a walk-off win for the second night in a row. As he skipped towards first base, he held the bat for a couple seconds, finally tossing it away with a one-handed sidearm toss.
The winner: Arozarena
No doubt, Sheets' home run was more dramatic. But this is for the Bat Flip Championship Belt, not the Walk-off Championship Belt, so Arozarena wins with the total package: the knee drop, the pointed bat, the long toss and, as a little extra credit, the guitar simulation.
Randy, the belt is yours!