April 15, 2012

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for April 14

by Larry Granillo

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Sunday morning and waffles are calling. Let's get to the trots!

Home Run of the Day: Todd Helton, Colorado Rockies - 22.02 seconds [video]
Who knew Todd Helton could run this fast? Seriously. Twenty-two seconds is the realm of young men, not the Todd Heltons of the world. Helton had only two trots recorded faster than 25 seconds in all of 2011, and none anywhere near the 22-second mark. The excitement of a walk-off home run must really get the adrenaline rushing. The real question, though, is: should Helton's walk-off even have happened?

The other candidate for Home Run of the Day came from Dodger Stadium, where reigning almost-MVP Matt Kemp hit two home runs in his first two at-bats off San Diego starter Joe Weiland. In his first nine games, Kemp leads the league in home runs, runs, hits, RBI, slugging, and OPS. Not too shabby.

Slowest Trot: David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox - 25.79 seconds [video]
Oh boy, it feels good to see David Ortiz hitting home runs again, and even better to see him enjoying his trots as always. It will truly be a sad day in baseball when you can no longer count on seeing a 25-, 27-, or even 29-second trot from Big Papi. I'm glad that day isn't here yet.

Quickest Trot: Kelly Johnson, Toronto Blue Jays - 17.97 seconds [video]
Two really quick trots on Saturday afternoon. Toronto's Kelly Johnson, with his third home run on the season, flew around the bases in under 18 seconds, only the second standard trot of the year to do so. In Boston, Mike Aviles nearly became the third, rounding the bases in only 18.16 seconds. If he didn't bother to bounce step into home plate at the last second, Aviles may have managed to break that barrier. It just goes to show the value in running straight through the plate.

All of Today's Trots

David Ortiz............25.79	Casey Kotchman.........21.76
Chris Davis............24.5	Wilson Betemit.........21.64
Luke Scott.............24.32	Andre Ethier...........21.4
Matt Kemp #1...........23.87	Chris Iannetta.........21.25
Vernon Wells...........23.42*	Jarrod Saltalamacchia..20.93*
Jesus Montero..........23.35	Jon Jay................20.9
Ramon Hernandez........23.34	Jason Kipnis...........20.82*
Nolan Reimold..........23.06	Alexei Ramirez.........20.66
Yuniesky Betancourt....22.99	Howie Kendrick.........20.51
Matt Kemp #2...........22.79	Tyler Colvin...........20.48
Paul Konerko...........22.78	Lucas Duda.............20.37
Cody Ross..............22.54	David Wright...........19.9
Tyler Flowers..........22.49	Brennan Boesch.........19.57
Miguel Montero.........22.38	Dustin Pedroia.........19.38
Josh Hamilton..........22.3	Mike Aviles............18.16
Todd Helton............22.02	Kelly Johnson..........17.97

Click here for the ongoing 2012 Tater Trot Tracker Leaderboard. You can also follow @TaterTrotTrkr on Twitter for more up-to-the-minute trot times.