May 17, 2012

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for May 16

by Larry Granillo

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Albert Pujols may have beat Bryce Harper in the "first home run of 2012" race, but Harper made it to number two first. Thanks to home runs over the last two days, though, Harper and Pujols are now tied with two home runs apiece. I would be shocked to see the pair keep pace for the rest of the season, however.

Here, then, are the trots for Tuesday and Wednesday. On both the slow side and the quick side, the two days are very similar.

Home Run of the Day: Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles - 22.36 seconds [video]
Adam Jones is having a heckuva a season. His two home runs in two days give him 12 home runs on the year, good for fourth in the AL, and a .590 slugging percentage (fifth). Wednesday's home run was a go-ahead bomb to left at Kauffman Stadium in the top of the fifteenth inning. The O's would go on to win it.

Slowest Trot: Carlos Lee, Houston Astros - 25.91 seconds [video]
An incredibly slow trot from the Astro not exactly known for his speed. As slow as it was, though, Lee's trot would have been in a three-way virtual tie for second on Tuesday, with a 25.89 second trot from Alfonso Soriano (his first of the year, which didn't keep him from admiring the ball) and a 25.78 second trot from Miguel Cabrera. The slowest trot of that day was David Ortiz, who came perilously close to the 30-second barrier. He ended up rounding the bases in 28.79 seconds (video). Papi also bunted for a single against the shift in that game.

Quickest Trot: Edwin Encarnacion, Toronto Blue Jays - 18.07 seconds [video]
A fantastic trot from Encarnacion, who is normally a fairly slow trotter. Something got into him on this trot on Wednesday, though, as he ended up just outside the ten quickest trots of the year. As with Wednesday's slowest trots, though, the more impressive quick trot happened on Tuesday. Bryce Harper, who already had the second quickest trot of the year with his first career home run on Monday, pushed his way into the top ten again with his second career trot.

Video from the Nationals feed (see here) is inconclusive thanks to a weird angle at the plate, but Harper's trot clocked in at 18.02 seconds or better. Watching the visiting Padres' feed, the camera doesn't show Harper step on the plate. However, it does cut back to Harper as he is taking his first step beyond home (at the speed he was flying, the two steps are very close together). The 18.02 second mark is Harper's speed at that next step. That time is good for the ninth-quickest trot of the year.

All of Today's Trots

Carlos Lee.........25.91   Trevor Plouffe.....21.77
Alfonso Soriano....24.95   Chase Headley......21.61
David Freese.......23.43   Adam LaRoche.......21.6*
Albert Pujols......23.33   Todd Frazier #1....21.21
Wilson Betemit.....23.25   Hector Luna........21.19
Adrian Beltre......22.96   Josh Harrison......20.87
Adam Jones.........22.36   Dayan Viciedo......20.84
Giancarlo Stanton..22.32   Xavier Nady........20.75
Todd Frazier #2....21.92   Kelly Johnson......20.6
Corey Hart.........21.91   Dustin Ackley......20.54
Jose Bautista......21.9    Brian Dozier.......20.29
Vernon Wells.......21.86   Ian Desmond........19.59
JP Arencibia.......21.82   Carlos Ruiz........19.25
Travis Hafner......21.79   Edwin Encarnacion..18.07

Tuesday's Trots

David Ortiz........28.79    Brandon Snyder.....20.96
Alfonso Soriano....25.89    Matt Downs.........20.79
Miguel Cabrera.....25.78    Travis Ishikawa #1.20.78
Asdrubal Cabrera...23.74    Shin-Soo Choo......20.61
Carlos Santana.....23.61    Mike Trout.........20.52
Rickie Weeks.......23.48    Mike Moustakas.....20.47
Bryan LaHair.......23.39    Curtis Granderson..20.44
Matt Holliday......23.06    Travis Ishikawa #2.20.3
Paul Konerko.......22.31    Hunter Pence #1....20.2
Austin Jackson.....21.96    Sean Rodriguez.....19.71
Brian Schneider....21.93    Adam Jones.........19.68
Ryan Raburn........21.67*   Edwin Encarnacion..19.6
Mark Ellis.........21.27    Matt Carpenter.....19.31
Michael McKenry....21.15    Hunter Pence #2....19.27
Marco Scutaro......21.04    James Darnell......18.33
Brian McCann.......21.01    Bryce Harper.......18.02*

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.