July 27, 2012

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for July 26

by Larry Granillo

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Starling Marte got the party started on the first pitch he saw last night, so let's keep it going. Right to the trots!

Home Run of the Day: Starling Marte, Pittsburgh Pirates - 18.46 seconds [video]
The major league debut for Pittsburgh's heralded prospect. On the first pitch he saw as a big leaguer, Marte powered the ball over the left-centerfield wall in Houston. And it was no cheap "Crawford boxes" home run, either. A thing of beauty, as was the trot. It wasn't quite Bryce Harper's trot, but 18.46 seconds for a player who's been in the big leagues for all of four minutes is pretty impressive.

You could say that it was a startling start-e to Starling Marte's career. (You could; I never would.)

Slowest Trot: Carlos Santana, Cleveland Indians - 24.44 seconds [video]
This is the kind of trot you see here on a day where there were only 16 home runs around the league. In fairness, it probably looked much slower when compared to the heat Justin Verlander was throwing to the Indians before he gave up back-to-back blasts.

Quickest Trot: Carlos Gomez, Milwaukee Brewers - 16.44 seconds [video]
Gomez's fourth trot in four games, but only his third home run. It was worth it, though. At 16.44 seconds, the trot is the second fastest trot of the season, even beating out the time Gomez thought he was racing around to beat a throw home. Gomez now has three of the five quickest trots on the season. Only Bryce Harper's third career trot is quicker. I should also note that this trot came off a monster blast from Gomez, a line drive that ended up in the camera well above the batter's eye. Hit Tracker Online ruled it 439 feet, the longest home run of the day.

All of Today's Trots

Carlos Santana....24.44     Clint Barmes......21.04
Adam LaRoche......23.47     Brandon Inge......21*
Chris Davis.......22.76     Kelly Johnson.....20.67
Matt Holliday.....22.49     Edwin Encarnacion.20.45
Josh Reddick......22.28     Travis Hafner.....20.27
Garrett Jones.....22.25     Carlos Corporan...19.47
Delmon Young......22.03     Starling Marte....18.46
Chris Johnson.....21.09     Carlos Gomez......16.44

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.