September 29, 2012

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for Sept. 28: Bobby Abreu, All Alone

by Larry Granillo

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Apologies for the missing Tater Trot Tracker the last few days. The real world got pretty busy there for a few days. Luckily, it's a great day to return to the tracker because...

Home Run of the Day: Bobby Abreu, Los Angeles Dodgers - 31.56 seconds [video]
There have been five home run trots in the Tater Trot Tracker "era" that have taken more than a half-minute to complete:

1. David Ortiz - May 24, 2010 - 30.59 seconds. This was the very first tater trot to break the barrier. The Roger Bannister moment, if you will. In order for this moment to arrive, a number of things had to line up perfectly. First, it was David Ortiz. Second, the ball was a huge pop-up right down the rightfield line that could have landed fair or foul (batters tend to stay in the box longer on these). And, finally, when Ortiz did start to run, the home plate umpire got in his way for just a moment. None of these things should have caused a 30-second trot, but they all worked together to give us a memorable night.
2. Luke Scott - June 30, 2010 - 35.76 seconds. Scott pulled his hamstring rounding first base and was forced to run the whole way on a bad leg. He was doing fine until he rounded third, when he nearly walked the rest of the way.
3. Luis Hernandez - September 18, 2010 - 33.08 seconds. On the pitch prior to his home run, Hernandez fouled a ball off of his foot. The trainers came out and looked at it for about five minutes before Hernandez returned to the box. He then hit a home run and trotted home on what would later be determined to be a broken foot.
4. John Buck - June 20, 2010 - 36.32 seconds. This is the single longest tater trot recorded. Much like Scott, Buck's slow trot came when he pulled a hamstring (this time on the first step out of the box). However, Buck actually stopped moving for a few seconds just up the line from home plate. As an interrupted trot, the time is technically invalid.
5. Hanley Ramirez - July 1, 2012 - 30.3 seconds. Hanley Ramirez hit his first home run in a month and then trotted around the bases really slow. Because he's Hanley Ramirez. There's no other reason for his slow trot.

On Friday night, Bobby Abreu joined this list with the slowest non-injury related trot in the Tater Trot Tracker era. Much like David Ortiz in 2010, Abreu is a slow trotter on any given night and this home run went down the rightfield line, threatening to land fair or foul. A little bit of hesitation out of the box is perfectly understandable. I'm not sure that's what you would call this, however:

That toss of the bat might be in reaction to the way Colorado's Will Harris pitched to him. The first pitch of the at-bat was in Abreu's ear. Vin Scully said, "Maybe a little anger on that pitch from Will Harris." He was referring to the two wild pitches Harris had thrown in the prior at-bats that moved Andre Ethier to third base. Unless Scully was insinuating that Harris was upset at the Dodgers for moving up a base on a wild pitch with a late six-run lead, the "anger" was self-directed.

No matter what, the bat toss is not why Abreu now sits all alone on the slowest trots list (for non-injured batters). Players are that slow out of the box every day. In fact, Abreu touched first base at 9.22 seconds. While slow, that's not an unusual home-to-first time for some of the slower trotters. Nope, like Hanley Ramirez before him (Abreu's current teammate), Bobby Abreu earned this time by choosing to run the bases slow. It's all on him.

During the trot, the Colorado Rockie's television announcers said "He's not showing up the pitcher. Bobby just doesn't run as well as he used to." That was awfully diplomatic of the two, but I disagree.

(For the 2012 Tater Trot Tracker Leaderboard, click here.)

Slowest Trot: Bobby Abreu, Los Angeles Dodgers - 31.56 seconds [video]
Billy Butler was the second slowest trotter on Friday. At 26.82 seconds, he was still nearly five seconds faster than Abreu. That doesn't happen very often.

Quickest Trot: Trayvon Robinson, Seattle Marines - 18.45 seconds [video]
Bobby Abreu touched second base at 15.95 seconds. Two-and-a-half seconds later, Robinson was touching home.

All of Today's Trots

Bobby Abreu........31.56   Mike Trout.........21.3
Billy Butler.......26.82   Justin Upton.......21.21
Nelson Cruz........25.16   Lucas Duda.........21.17
Ryan Doumit........24.09   Alex Rios..........21.14
Chris Davis........22.93   Cody Ransom........21.14
Omar Infante.......22.86   Michael Saunders...21.13
Ryan Flaherty......22.82   Jason Castro #2....20.82
Roger Bernadina....22.71   Stephen Drew.......20.8
Yadier Molina......22.26   Shane Robinson.....20.55
Freddie Freeman....22.18   Dave Sappelt.......20.42
Adam Lind..........22.13   Giancarlo Stanton..20.34
Chris Iannetta.....21.66   Brett Wallace......20.18
Jose Altuve........21.65   Carlos Gomez.......20.08
Colby Rasmus.......21.59   Jason Castro #1....19.71
Russell Martin.....21.56   Coco Crisp.........19.45
Shane Victorino....21.55*  Ben Zobrist........19.04
Eric Chavez........21.44*  Trayvon Robinson...18.45

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.