May 15, 2012

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for May 14

by Larry Granillo

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The big news last night was that Bryce Harper, in his fifteenth game, finally hit his first career home run. He then proceeded to race around the bases in a decidedly "Old School Baseball"-type of way, finishing with the second fastest trot of the season so far. There are more details about it here. Harper wasn't the only player to hit a home run last night (in fact, he wasn't the only player to even hit his first career home run last night), so let's get right to the trots!

Home Run of the Day: Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals - 17.07 seconds [video]
I tried to find another home run that deserved this honor, but there really wasn't one to find. Adam Dunn hit his 12th home run of the year, matching his season total from last year. Marwin Gonzalez of the Houston Astros hit his first career home run and, in the same game, Placido Polanco hit a home run for his 2,000th career hit.

Slowest Trot: Hanley Ramirez, Miami Marlins - 26.12 seconds [video]
There was absolutely no reason for this incredibly slow trot from Hanley. He just felt like enjoying la maquina jonron for as long as possible, I suppose. Wilin Rosario and Andre Ethier had a virtual tie for the second slowest trot of the day at 24.31 and 24.29 seconds, respectively. This is even more true considering that Rosario's trot has a bit of uncertainty based off which foot he touched the plate with.

Quickest Trot: Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals - 17.07 seconds [video]
One more time: here are the details of Harper's second-quickest trot in the majors this year. The next quickest trot on Monday belonged to San Francisco's Gregor Blanco, who sprinted around the bases himself only to clock in at 18.55 seconds. Most any other night, he would have earned top honors.

All of Today's Trots

Hanley Ramirez....26.12      Josh Reddick......21.9
Wilin Rosario.....24.31*     JJ Hardy..........21.22
Andre Ethier......24.29      Mark Teixeira.....21.11
Placido Polanco...23.84      Xavier Nady.......20.68
Ryan Doumit.......23.84      Casey Kotchman....20.68
Rod Barajas.......23.79      Marwin Gonzalez...20.14
Adam Dunn.........23.64      Daniel Nava.......20.06*
Nelson Cruz.......23.46      Ben Zobrist.......19.73
Chad Tracy........22.88      Aaron Hill........19.61*
Bryan LaHair......22.56      Curtis Granderson.19.31
Dayan Viciedo.....22.42      Gregor Blanco.....18.55
Kelly Shoppach....22.37      Bryce Harper......17.07

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.