April 5, 2013

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for April 4

by Larry Granillo

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The total number of home runs hit across the league went down on Thursday, but you wouldn't know it from the game in Toronto. The Blue Jays and Indians combined for seven home runs, with J.P. Arencibia launching two himself. You also wouldn't know it from Chris Davis or Michael Morse, who continue to place the ball over the fence as if it belonged to an annoying neighbor. All in all, not a bad way for this first week to continue.

Let's get to the trots!

Home Run of the Day: Michael Morse, Seattle Mariners - 20.25 seconds [video]
It's hard to say who is having the hotter week between Morse and Davis. Thursday's shot was Morse's fourth of the young year while Davis' was only number three, but Davis is batting .636/.692/1.727 through three games while Morse is "only" batting .375/.412/1.125 through four. Morse wins the title today solely because he leads the league in home runs. The way Davis is crushing the ball, however, that might not last all that long.

(I was hoping to embed a video of Morse's or Davis's home run, but MLB Advanced Media seems to be a bit inconsistent on when videos become shareable. Hopefully that will be cleared up soon.)

Slowest Trot: J.P. Arencibia #2, Toronto Blue Jays - 25.56 seconds [video]
Both of Arencibia's trots on Thursday wound up in the top five slowest trots of the day, but his second was the only trot in the league to break the 25-second mark. It's Arencibia's first home run, however, that deserves to be seen. The ball was blasted into straightaway center at the Rogers Center, bouncing off the Budweiser sign above the second deck. It was fun to watch.

Quickest Trot: Francisco Cervelli, New York Yankees - 17.72 seconds [video]
The two quickest trots of the night belonged to Yankees players. Brett Gardner is known for his speed and, with his ball barely clearing the right field fence, you knew that his trot would be a speedy one. Even so, it took second to the home run hit by Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli, who sped around the bases like he was being chased. The Bronx duo managed to make the famously speedy Chris Heisey look slow with his 18.56 second trot.

All of Today's Trots

J.P. Arencibia #2...25.56  John Buck...........21.99
Jayson Werth........24.96  Colby Rasmus........21.8
Yoenis Cespedes.....24.69  J.J. Hardy..........21.72
Mark Reynolds.......24.51  Nate Schierholtz....20.76
J.P. Arencibia #1...24.12  Edwin Encarnacion...20.47
Jose Bautista.......23.21  Justin Ruggiano.....20.25
Carlos Santana......23.19  Michael Morse.......20.25
Josh Reddick........23.12  Shin-Soo Choo.......20.24
Trevor Plouffe......23.08  Chris Heisey........18.56
Josh Willingham.....22.51  Brett Gardner.......18.17
Todd Frazier........22.31  Francisco Cervelli..17.72
Chris Davis.........22.06

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.