September 1, 2011

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for August 31

by Larry Granillo

Printer-friendly

Apologies for the late post today.

There were no shortage of fascinating home runs hit on Wednesday, so let's get right down to the trots!

Home Run of the Day: Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco Giants - 21.62 seconds [video]
As I said, there was no shortage of interesting home runs on Wednesday. From the slow trot from David Ortiz to the two first-career home runs hit by long-tenured pitchers (including the grand slam from St. Louis' Jake Westbrook) to the pair of knocks from Cleveland's Jack Hannahan, Wednesday was a fun day to watch home runs. Pablo Sandoval gets the Home Run of the Day honor, however, because I'm a sucker for splash hits out there at AT&T Park, and I've never seen a splash hit to this part of the ballpark. Normally, the balls that land in McCovey Cove on the fly do so by sailing over the rightfield wall near the foul pole - the shortest part of the field. Panda's splash hit on Wednesday sailed out in deep-right-center, near the deepest part of the park. It flew over the wall and continued until it hit the water. It's quite the sight.

Slowest Trot: David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox - 28.87 seconds [video]
It's trots like these that make me realize how many more home runs I've watched than most people. After Ortiz hit this home run Wednesday night, my twitter feed was full of people complaining about how long Papi took, as if he was deliberately taking it slow following the Cervelli home run the day before. When I finally watched it, I noticed how slow it was, sure, but anyone who has read the Tater Trot Tracker would know that a 28.8-second trot from David Ortiz isn't all that rare. In fact, it barely even registered as a slot trot to me, that's how used to Papi's trots I am. Rod Barajas was only a second behind Ortiz with his 27.63 second trot and no one seemed to think he was sending any type of message. It's just the nature of these big, slow trotters.

Quickest Trot: Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox - 18.6 seconds [video]
And then there's Ellsbury, who managed the quickest trot of the day and hardly seemed to be trying. Minnesota's Jason Repko was only slightly behind Ellsbury with his 18.93 second trot.

All of Today's Trots

David Ortiz........28.87    Brent Lillibridge..21.89
Rod Barajas........27.63    Pablo Sandoval.....21.62
Jose Molina........25.64    Rafael Furcal......21.6
Miguel Montero.....25.49    Jack Hannahan #1...21.49
Derek Lowe.........23.73    Jason Varitek......21.41
Edwin Encarnacion..23.7	    Eric Hosmer #1.....21.12
Jack Hannahan #2...23.2	    Kelly Johnson......20.92
Jake Westbrook.....22.7	    Luke Hughes........20.76
Jason Kubel........22.66*   Hunter Pence.......20.74
Chipper Jones......22.66    Jeff Keppinger.....20.29
Jose Bautista......22.47    Dexter Fowler......19.89
Corey Hart.........22.35    Kurt Suzuki........19.46
Albert Pujols......22.26    Johnny Damon.......19.37
Eric Hosmer #2.....22.08    Jason Repko........18.93
Michael Morse......21.99    Jacoby Ellsbury....18.6