August 24, 2012

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for August 23

by Larry Granillo

Printer-friendly

There were eight games played across the league on Thursday. In those eight games, players hit eight home runs. Five of the home runs came in the ugly Angels/Red Sox game at Fenway Park. I can't say for sure, but this may be the fewest home runs I've ever seen on a single day since starting the Tater Trot Tracker.

Just a reminder: you can follow the tracker on Twitter, where I try to keep updated trot times for any of the night's significant home runs, whether they are particularly slow, particularly fast, or otherwise noteworthy. Yesterday, things came up that prevented me from writing about Wednesday's trots here. If you were following @TaterTrotTrkr on Twitter, however, you would have already learned how fast Adrian Beltre was on his three tater trots Wednesday night.

Let's get to the trots!

Home Run of the Day: Cody Ross, Boston Red Sox - 21.14 seconds [video]
Yes, Kendrys Morales was the one who hit what proved to be the most important home run of the game, but it's Ross's bottom-of-the-ninth inning game-tying blast that best exemplifies such an ugly, crazy game. The Sox entered the ninth leading the Angels 11-9 (Los Angeles had scored eight runs in the third inning already). By the time Ross batted in the bottom of the inning, they were down 11-12. Ross tied it up with one swing of the bat, a blast into the Green Monster seats, sending it to extra innings. We expected nothing less.

Slowest Trot: Kendrys Morales, Los Angeles Angels - 25.62 seconds [video]
I was beginning to wonder that, with so few home runs hit on Thursday, we might get stuck with a quick trot as the slowest of the day. Then I saw Kendrys Morales run the bases.

Quickest Trot: Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox - 19.48 seconds [video]
Pedroia barely inches out his teammate Mike Aviles for the quickest trot of the day (19.48 seconds vs. 19.56 seconds). They were the only two players to come in under 20-seconds.

All of Today's Trots

Kendrys Morales....25.62
Adrian Beltre......23.03
Vernon Wells.......22.29
Edwin Encarnacion..22.1
Cody Ross..........21.14
David Freese.......20.88
Mike Aviles........19.56
Dustin Pedroia.....19.48

Wednesday's Trots

Wilin Rosario.....25.87  Brett Wallace.....20.78
Bryan LaHair......25.35  Michael Saunders..20.75
Mitch Moreland....24     Justin Ruggiano...20.72
Adrian Beltre #2..22.95  Alex Rios.........20.59*
Adrian Beltre #3..22.41  Domonic Brown.....20.44
Gaby Sanchez......22.17  Howie Kendrick....20.28
Chris Snyder......22.02  Derek Jeter.......19.73*
Ryan Braun........21.8   Coco Crisp........19.51
Jose Lobaton......21.64  Aaron Hill........19.51
Adrian Beltre #1..21.45  David DeJesus.....18.75
Jay Bruce.........20.87  Joaquin Arias.....18.61*

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.