May 10, 2011

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for May 9

by Larry Granillo

Printer-friendly

I was at Miller Park for the home debut of Zack Greinke last night. It was a fantastic experience, with Greinke mowing down Padres like nobody's business and Rickie Weeks hitting a laser of a home run. But it was the defensive gem of Yuniesky Betancourt that really charged the crowd up. It sure was something (and Rickie Weeks' barehand catch was a huge part of it).

But enough of that. We want some tater trots!

Home Run of the Day: Hunter Pence, Houston Astros - 23.94 seconds [video]
One of two home runs on Monday that were almost caught by the outfielder but squeaked out of the glove. What made Pence's home run so much more interesting than Jimmy Rollins', though, was that Pence was actually convinced that Jay Bruce caught the ball. After rounding second, Pence, with a smile on his face, started turning around to cut back across the diamond towards the dugout. The umpire was there to tell him it was a home run, though, and Pence's face quickly turned serious as he continued his trot. It's not everyday you see something like that happen.

I originally debated giving Pence a time. My policy is that, if a player interrupts his trot (e.g., when he stops at second because he thinks the ball is still in play), I won't count the time. It just doesn't seem like I'm timing an actual trot there. Pence, however, continued moving forward during his full trot, even as he turned towards the umpire. Because of that, his trot time will remain.

Slowest Trot: Victor Martinez, Detroit Tigers - 28.25 seconds [video]
V-Mart is always a slow trotter, but even this 28-second trot is slow for him. Rounding third, Martinez stutter-stepped about five times as he tried to get his feet lined up properly. It was completely unnecessary, of course, but sometimes trotters feel the need to do it.

It should be noted here that Mitch Moreland's home run came in with an unclockable time. Both broadcast feeds used the same camera angles, cutting away from Moreland when he was still 20 feet from the plate and not returning until well after he was past it. He may be our first unusable trot of the year.

Quickest Trot: Chris Iannetta, Colorado Rockies - 19.8 seconds [video]
With only fourteen home runs on the night, there aren't many trots to choose from for the quickest. Even still, seeing Chris Iannetta at the top is a bit surprising. His home run, a bullet that barely cleared the wall in left field, was quite pretty though. Cincinnati's Travis Wood becomes our latest pitcher to slug a home run, coming in with a nice 21.07 second trot.

All of Today's Trots

Victor Martinez...28.25	     Alexei Ramirez....21.19
Carlos Quentin....25.2	     Travis Wood.......21.07
Ramon Hernandez...24.81	     Rickie Weeks......20.94
Hunter Pence......23.94	     Gordon Beckham....20.51
Josh Willingham...23.94	     Jimmy Rollins.....20.26
Gaby Sanchez......23.15	     Chris Iannetta....19.8
Yunel Escobar.....22.99	     Mitch Moreland....UN