April 10, 2013

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for April 9

by Larry Granillo

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The Astros and Mariners combined for eight home runs on Tuesday. Yes, the Astros and Mariners. The Yankees and Indians combined for six more. In Washington, the White Sox and Nationals also hit six. These three games helped lead us to the first forty home run night of the season. Thanks, guys!

Despite that, all I really want to talk about today is this inside-the-park home run from Phillies prospect Roman Quinn. Watch.

That "trot" is a thing of beauty. The official tater trot time for Quinn is 14.03 seconds, making it the third fastest trot I've seen. Of course, we're talking hundredths of a second here, so it's almost impossible to say which is the true fastest. Last summer, fellow minor leaguer Billy Hamilton also hit an inside-the-park home run. Hamilton's trot time that night is still the gold standard at 13.8 seconds. In 2011, Angels' outfielder Peter Bourjos hit a "four-base single" (the inside-the-park home run was ruled a single) that clocked in at 14.02 seconds. No matter the limits of human-operated stop watch precision, Quinn finds himself in good company here. I hope to see more trots from the Class A shortstop. Thanks to twitter users @LStruble610 and @jnorris427 for the highlight!

Now let's get to the big league trots!

Home Run of the Day: Adam LaRoche #1, Washington Nationals - 22.1 seconds [video]
With 41 home runs to choose from on Tuesday, LaRoche's first homer of the night (and of the season) gets the honor solely for the call the Washington broadcaster gives it in the video highlight. It has to be listened to.

Slowest Trot: Paul Konerko, Chicago White Sox - 24.32 seconds [video]
For such a busy day, this is a very tame trot to make its way to the top of the slowest list. Konerko beats out Alex Avila, at 23.83 seconds, for the honor.

On Monday, the slowest trot belonged to Carlos Gonzalez at 24.08 seconds. As I've said before, the early leader for enjoying their own home runs has to be Gonzalez. Just watch the video.

Quickest Trot: Eduardo Escobar, Minnesota Twins - 18.09 seconds [video]
The first career home run for Escobar, who cheered and clapped his hands when he saw the ball clear the fence. That's the kind of excitement you like to see when someone is making their first ever trip around the bases.

The quickest trot for Monday belonged to Adam Jones, who took the crown with a 19.57 second trot.

All of Today's Trots

Paul Konerko......24.32   J.D. Martinez.....21.8
Alex Avila........23.83   Joe Mauer.........21.69
Chris Carter #2...23.71   Juan Uribe........21.6
Ryan Howard.......23.32   Brennan Boesch....21.58
Adam LaRoche #2...23.32   Jayson Werth......21.49
Jason Bay.........23.25   Michael Morse.....21.43
Alex Rios.........23.05*  Brandon Moss......21.24
Josh Willingham...22.88   Kevin Youkilis....21.17
Colby Rasmus......22.59   Nick Hundley......21.16
Miguel Cabrera....22.56   Brandon Crawford..20.98
Chris Carter #1...22.54   John Jaso.........20.64
Jose Altuve.......22.43   Raul Ibanez.......20.62
Lyle Overbay......22.4    John Mayberry.....20.57
Evan Gattis.......22.32   Robinson Cano.....19.98
Marwin Gonzalez...22.19   Ichiro Suzuki.....19.12
John Buck.........22.15   Ian Desmond.......19.02
Adam LaRoche #1...22.1    Will Venable......18.6
Asdrubal Cabrera..22.08   Michael Young.....18.6
Troy Tulowitzki...21.97   Coco Crisp........18.44
Matt Adams........21.94   Eduardo Escobar...18.09
Jason Kubel.......21.91*

Monday's Trots

Carlos Gonzalez.....24.08
A.J. Pierzynski.....24.03
Justin Upton........23.76
Welington Castillo..23.28
John Buck...........22.4
Mitch Moreland......22.15
Brandon Phillips....21.51
Garrett Jones.......21.38
Mike Aviles.........20.87
Hunter Pence........20.47
Daniel Nava.........20.37*
Robinson Cano #1....20.09
Travis Hafner.......19.95
Robinson Cano #2....19.76
Adam Jones..........19.57

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.