April 4, 2013

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for April 3

by Larry Granillo

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Well that didn't take long. On the first day of the season in which all 30 teams played, there are 36 home runs hit around the league. There's nothing extreme about that number, but it is rather early in the season to see so many hit in a single day. At least it was full of interesting homers.

Let's get to the trots!

Home Run of the Day: Manny Ramirez, EDA Rhinos (Taiwan) - 28.45 seconds
With the time difference, I can't say for sure if this took place on Wednesday or Thursday. Either way, Manny Ramirez's first home run in the Chinese Professional Baseball League is great fun to watch, both for the glacial trot and the utter exuberance of the broadcasters. The actual home run begins at the 1:10 mark in the video. (Thanks to Ben Badler at Baseball America for the clip)

Back in Major League Baseball, there were a number of memorable trots. In Washington, pitcher Gio Gonzalez hit his second career home run. In both of his trots, he has been unable to contain his excitement for clearing the fence. It's great fun to watch.

Other notable trots include Evan Gattis' first career home run (in his second career at-bat) that he hit while his father was being interviewed from the stands at Turner Field. Jose Bautista hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game up for the Blue Jays while Tampa Bay's Matt Joyce won the game with his walk off blast. In Chicago, Dayan Viciedo was nearly robbed of a home run by Alex Gordon, who reached about 12 feet over the fence to put his glove on the ball before dropping it.

Slowest Trot: Wilin Rosario, Colorado Rockies - 25.83 seconds [video]
Rosario was one of four players to spend 25 seconds on the bases on Wednesday, joining Brandon Phillips, Mark Reynolds and Viciedo. His trot is much more a function of his speed than the others, however, as they were all slow out of the box for one reason or another (Phillips and Reynolds both seemed to enjoy their blasts).

Quickest Trot: Justin Upton, Atlanta Braves - 18.37 seconds [video]
A cursory glance at the last couple of years of tater trots says that this might be Upton's second-quickest trot (behind an 18.32 second trot last year). Upton is much more likely to be in the 23- or 24- second range than he is the 18- or 19-second range. He must have been feeling good last night.

The second quickest trot belonged to Hunter Pence who, at 19.15 seconds, barely edged out Paul Goldschmidt (19.19 seconds).

All of Today's Trots

Wilin Rosario.......25.83   John Buck...........21.87
Brandon Phillips....25.21   Vernon Wells........21.74
Mark Reynolds.......25.11   Jason Heyward.......21.66
Dayan Viciedo.......25.06   Evan Gattis.........21.5
Ike Davis...........24.88*  Chris Young.........21.13
Gio Gonzalez........24.07   Jed Lowrie..........20.96
Yadier Molina.......23.81   Dexter Fowler.......20.95
Franklin Gutierrez..23.73   Martin Prado........20.76
Rickie Weeks........23.63   Shelley Duncan......20.68
Matt Joyce..........23.07*  Travis Hafner.......20.57
Alberto Callaspo....23.07   Howie Kendrick......20.44
Adam Dunn...........22.83   Tyler Flowers.......20.4
Michael Cuddyer.....22.82   Gerardo Parra.......19.82
Maicer Izturis......22.81   Michael Morse.......19.64
Chris Davis.........22.53   Alexei Ramirez......19.26*
Jose Bautista.......22.21   Paul Goldschmidt....19.19
Pablo Sandoval......22.12   Hunter Pence........19.15
Lucas Duda..........22.01   Justin Upton........18.37

Click here for the ongoing 2013 Tater Trot Tracker Leaderboard. You can also follow @TaterTrotTrkr on Twitter for more up-to-the-minute trot times.