September 10, 2011

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for September 9

by Larry Granillo

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There were 18 home runs hit on Thursday, and now only 21 home runs hit on Friday. What is this, the deadball era?

Let's get to those trots!

Home Run of the Day: Omar Infante, Florida Marlins #2 - 26.51 seconds [video]
It's not often that you can correctly state that an outfielder gave the batter a home run, but it certainly happened on Friday. After having already hit a home run earlier in the game, Florida's Omar Infante flied out to deep left field in the third inning of Friday's game in Pittsburgh. Leftfielder Alex Presley positioned himself under the ball and seemed to catch it about two feet in front of the wall. But when Presley squeezed his glove shut, the ball squirted out behind him and landed over the wall, giving Infante his second homer of the game. There was nothing more to do but watch Infante circle the bases on his free home run. Presley walked away from the wall, clearly upset with himself. As odd as it was, it has to be the Home Run of the Day.

Slowest Trot: Omar Infante, Florida Marlins #2 - 26.51 seconds [video]
It's hard to say, since the cameras were so focused on Presley's mistake, but it's a pretty good bet that Infante slowed himself down as he waited to be called out. A 26-second trot on such an odd play isn't all that surprising.

Quickest Trot: Ramon Santiago, Detroit Tigers - 19.26 seconds [video]
One of only two trots to break the 20-second barrier on Friday. Santiago is in a virtual tie with Florida's Logan Morrison, who I recorded as touching the plate in 19.28 seconds. In this line of work, 19.26 seconds and 19.28 seconds are essentially the same thing. The next quickest trot belonged to Ichiro, who rounded the bases (for the third time this week) in 20.11 seconds.

All of Today's Trots

Omar Infante #2..26.51   Omar Infante #1.......22.21
Ryan Howard......25.81   Lonnie Chisenhall #2..21.78*
Justin Upton.....24.74   Lonnie Chisenhall #1..21.67
Mike Napoli......24.09   Alex Avila............21.18
Carlos Pena......23.71   John Jaso.............21.05
Hideki Matsui....23.58*  Chris Nelson..........20.8
Delmon Young.....23.51   Alex Gordon...........20.29
Ryan Zimmerman...22.99   Ichiro Suzuki.........20.11
Jesus Montero....22.81   Logan Morrison........19.28
Josh Willingham..22.45*  Ramon Santiago........19.26
Miguel Olivo.....22.29