August 23, 2011

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for August 22

by Larry Granillo

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Finally, the Tater Trot Tracker is back. As I mentioned in yesterday's Wezen-Ball post, I was knocked down by some sort of pneumonia-like bug for the past week that kept me from doing anything, let alone meticulously watching home run trots 30+ times a day.

Sadly, this means I've missed some seriously exciting home runs. There were at least two inside-the-park home runs hit. Garrett Jones had a remarkable walkoff blast (for which I received a great email from a reader who was there). Brian Bogusevic walked-off his own game with a grand slam while his Astros were down three. And quite a few more. For fans of the home run, this past week seemed to be a pretty special one.

I have not yet timed those home runs, but I will be doing so in the near-future. In the meantime, you can now expect a return to the daily Tater Trot Tracker posts. Thank God.

Now let's get to those trots!

Home Run of the Day: J.J. Hardy, Baltimore Orioles - 19.92 seconds [video]
At the end of the 2010 season, the Twins traded J.J. Hardy to the Orioles to add speed to the infield. This home run by Hardy (coming in Minnesota) was his 24th of the year. As Aaron Gleeman notes, that is 24 home runs in 383 at-bats for Hardy while the entire Twins infield this season has only 37 homers in 2,328 at-bats. Wow.

Slowest Trot: Ryan Doumit, Pittsburgh Pirates - 24.71 seconds [video]
I can't decide if this is a good thing to come back to, a day where the slowest trot is merely 24-seconds long. On the one hand, it means there were no terrible showboatters on the basepaths Monday, but, on the other, it means there weren't really any exceptionally interesting trots either. Doumit's came in the second game of the Brewers/Pirates doubleheader, en route to Pittsburgh's first win over Milwaukee this season.

Quickest Trot: Brian Bogusevic, Houston Astros - 18.96 seconds [video]
There is nothing wrong with an 18-second Quickest Trot though, with today's coming courtesy of the previously mentioned Brian Bogusevic. Kid must have had a pretty good week. Hardy's 19.92 second trot was the only other trot to fall under 20-seconds on Monday.

All of Today's Trots

Ryan Doumit......24.71	  Freddie Freeman..21.31
Alex Avila.......23.46	  Ryan Braun.......21.19
Carlos Gonzalez..23.31	  John Mayberry....20.88
Jayson Werth.....23.3	  Ichiro Suzuki....20.6
Matt Wieters.....23.3	  Evan Longoria....20.56
Lance Berkman....22.95	  Henry Blanco.....20.38
Hunter Pence.....22.64	  Corey Hart.......20.06
Mike Napoli......21.86	  Ryan Ludwick.....20.05
Dan Uggla........21.56	  Don Kelly........20.04
Matt Joyce.......21.55	  J.J. Hardy.......19.92
Matt Downs.......21.48	  Brian Bogusevic..18.96