June 15, 2012

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for June 14

by Larry Granillo

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No perfect games on Thursday. Man, baseball really is going downhill already.

Let's get to some trots!

Home Run of the Day: Adam Dunn, Chicago White Sox - 24.38 seconds [video]
Adam Dunn was dead in the water in 2011. In roughly 500 plate appearances, he hit only 11 home runs. He hadn't had fewer than 38 since 2003 before that. It was hard to believe that such a powerful hitter could fall off the cliff so suddenly, but it appeared like that's what had happened to Dunn. Only it wasn't.

With his home run on Thursday, Dunn now leads the majors with 22 home runs (in 272 PAs). I would say that Dunn is the hands-down winner of the Comeback Player of the Year award already - if I believed that that was an award that should exist. Instead, I'll just say that it's awfully nice to see Adam Dunn mashing home runs again. It feels right.

Slowest Trot: Jim Thome, Philadelphia Phillies - 26.39 seconds [video]
It also feels right to see Jim Thome destroy baseballs. This was Thome's third straight game at Target Field this season with a home run and it was another monster shot. Thome hit this ball so hard, in fact, that it evaporated into thin air after landing. It's the only explanation for why no one could find the ball. It'll be sad if the Phillies can't find a role for Thome once they can no longer use him as a DH.

Quickest Trot: Brandon Moss, Oakland Athletics - 19.91 seconds [video]
Four home runs in three games for Moss. And, though there were 30 home runs hit around the league on Thursday, this was only one of two trots to clock in under 20 seconds. Austin Jackson, at 19.93 seconds, was the only other such trot.

All of Today's Trots

Jim Thome...........26.39  Ryan Braun..........22.08
Aramis Ramirez......25.71  Shin-Soo Choo #2....22.02
Rod Barajas.........25.62  Jason Kubel.........21.92
Adam Dunn...........24.38  Ty Wigginton........21.91
Mark Reynolds.......23.81  Gerardo Parra.......21.61
Ryan Ludwick........23.57  David Murphy........21.48
Brandon Belt........23.36  Kirk Nieuwenhuis #1.21.34
Joey Votto..........23.1   Shin-Soo Choo #1....21.3
Miguel Montero......22.95* Marco Scutaro.......21.27
JD Martinez.........22.87  Steve Pearce........21.23
Brandon Phillips....22.7   Eric Hosmer.........21.23
David Freese........22.56  Kirk Nieuwenhuis #2.21.15
Josh Reddick........22.35  Trevor Plouffe......20.33
Matt Downs..........22.18  Austin Jackson......19.93
Jason Bay...........22.13  Brandon Moss........19.91

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.