July 29, 2011

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for July 28

by Larry Granillo

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The weekend is upon us once again, which is usually a pretty good thing. This weekend, however, also happens to mark the MLB trade deadline - making it a great weekend. My only question: how did it get to be August already?

How about some trots?

Home Run of the Day: Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates - 22.34 seconds [video]
There are quite a few red-hot players right now - J.J. Hardy, Ryan Braun, Billy Butler, Mike Stanton, to name a few - but McCutchen earns the Home Run of the Day honors for his ninth-inning blast in the Pirates/Braves game. The two had a pretty tough series going this week, and McCutchen's blast helped the Pirates secure the victory (it extended the Pirates lead from 3-2 to 5-2 in the ninth) and a split of a very important series for the club.

Tampa Bay super-prospect Desmond Jennings also hit his first career home run on Thursday, rounding the bases in 21.9 seconds.

Slowest Trot: Carlos Lee, Houston Astros - 26.95 seconds [video]
A little bit of a battle between Lee and Billy Butler (who trotted in at 25.92 seconds), but Lee wins it handily.

The Angels' Mark Trumbo had a home run called via replay on Thursday. The ball hit near the foul pole in the leftfield corner at Comerica Park and ricocheted in play. Trumbo hustled around for a triple. The play was then reviewed and called a home run. Trumbo's "trot" does not count because it was interrupted by his time at third (video).

Quickest Trot: Eric Thames, Toronto Blue Jays - 17.06 seconds [video]
This is Thames' fifth career home run, but only the second I have a trot time for (I still need to catch up on the trots I missed on my two week vacation). His first trot was 16.78 seconds and this one is 17.06. Clearly, Thames is joining the ranks of Adam Rosales and Chris Heisey and the select few other super-quick trotters. This is not a bad thing.

All of Today's Trots

Carlos Lee.........26.95    Kurt Suzuki........21.01
Billy Butler.......25.92    Miguel Cairo.......20.78
Conor Jackson......24.74    Jesus Guzman.......20.61
Vladimir Guerrero..24.36    Pablo Sandoval.....20.58
Miguel Cabrera.....22.56    Mike Stanton.......20.57
Andrew McCutchen...22.34    Evan Longoria......20.4
Edwin Encarnacion..22.29    J.J. Hardy #1......20.4
Desmond Jennings...21.9     Joey Votto.........20.02
Wilson Betemit.....21.82    B.J. Upton.........19.41
J.J. Hardy #2......21.05    Dustin Pedroia.....17.85
Ryan Braun.........21.04    Eric Thames........17.06
Brandon Allen......21.03    Mark Trumbo........N/A