July 25, 2012

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for July 24

by Larry Granillo

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The way things are going right now, I'm a bit surprised someone hasn't been traded in the middle of their tater trot so far this week. Let's get right to the trots!

Home Run of the Day: Jose Reyes, Miami Marlins - 23.04 seconds [video]
This spot rightfully belongs to Adam Dunn, who hit his 30th home run last night to tie the game up late, or Zack Greinke, who is just too much fun to watch on the bases, but I'm giving it to Reyes because it gives me a spot to mention something. Reyes' blast was a big, big fly pulled down the rightfield line. It could easily have gone fair or foul. As many players do, Reyes watched the ball sail down the line until he knew it was a home run. Once it became clear, Reyes began his trot.

On the Atlanta television feed, however, Braves announcer Chip Caray did not see it that way. Immediately after the ball cleared the fence, as Reyes was reaching and passing first base, Caray said "Boy, he stood and admired it!" Caray's partner Joe Simpson chimed in "You know, I always thought Milwaukee was the home of brats and hot dogs, but Miami may about be the king of hot dogs right now."

After returning from commercial (Greg Dobbs' one-pitch at-bat didn't give Caray or Simpson much time to talk), Caray went right back to Reyes: "Reyes stood and admired that home run a good 10, 12 seconds..." They then talked about some excitement Reyes showed after a key hit the night before and finally brought out the "times have changed...he'd have been feeling that for a week" card.

Just to be clear, while there is no real-time video showing exactly when Reyes began his trot (a slow motion video shows him taking a few walking steps out of the box soon afterwards), he did reach first base in less than 8 seconds. That's pretty remarkable for someone who stood at home for 10 or 12 seconds.

Slowest Trot: Zack Greinke, Milwaukee Brewers - 24.91 seconds [video]
Watch that video. If you didn't have a clock nearby, you would swear that Greinke's trot was one of the slowest you've ever seen, easily pushing the 30-second barrier. As it is, the trot wasn't even 25-seconds long (though it was still good enough for the slowest trot of the day).

Greinke had a fantastic individual night on Tuesday, striking out five and walking none in seven innings, before hitting his third career home run (second as a Brewer). The Brewers bullpen, however, did not.

Quickest Trot: Jordany Valdespin, New York Mets - 17.92 seconds [video]
A Mets-record fifth pinch-hit homer for Valdespin this season. I'm all for that - I love watching Valdespin motor around those bases after that kind of exciting moment.

All of Today's Trots

Zack Greinke.......24.91   Derek Norris.......22.46
Paul Konerko.......24.74   Ryan Braun.........22.45
Adam Dunn..........24.42   Drew Stubbs........22.32
Aramis Ramirez.....24.23   Michael Cuddyer #1.22.25
Adam LaRoche.......24.13   Chris Young........22.09
Josh Willingham #2.23.27*  Josh Willingham #1.22.05
Erik Kratz.........23.24   Lorenzo Cain.......22.03
Alexei Ramirez.....23.16*  Justin Maxwell.....21.11
Miguel Cabrera.....23.11   Michael Cuddyer #2.20.91
Alfonso Soriano....23.04   Michael Saunders...20.08
Jose Reyes.........23.04   Adam Jones.........19.96
JP Arencibia.......23      Travis Snider......18.88
Starlin Castro.....22.68   Carlos Gomez.......18.69
Garrett Jones......22.6    Curtis Granderson..18.48
Brooks Conrad......22.52   Jordany Valdespin..17.92

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.