July 18, 2012

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for July 17

by Larry Granillo

Let's not waste any time and get right to the trots!

Home Run of the Day: Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates - 25.44 seconds [video]
Andrew McCutchen is on an absolute tear right now. In his last 100 at-bats, McCutchen has 49 hits. That's absurd. As Pat Lackey at Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? notes, McCutchen is actually batting .403 since May 5, encapsulating more than two months and 266 plate appearances. Not too shabby.

What better way to celebrate that historic streak than with this monster blast down the leftfield line in Coors Field? Hit Tracker Online lists it at "only" 448 feet, but that doesn't make it any less impressive. The trot was a bit slow (third slowest of the day), especially for McCutchen, but a lot of that was McCutchen waiting to see if it would stay fair. Even so, the shot was a thing of beauty and deserved a little admiration.

Slowest Trot: Hanley Ramirez, Miami Marlins - 27.25 seconds [video]
Another home run from Hanley and another "Slowest Trot" crown. What makes this one special is the nature of the home run: a screaming line drive up the middle that somehow kept travelling until it passed over the centerfield wall. No one in that stadium thought that was a home run off the bat, including Ramirez. As such, he ran hard to first, trying to get a double or triple from the hit. When the ball finally cleared the fence, Ramirez slowed *way* down. Just imagine how slow the trot would have been if Ramirez didn't have to run hard to first base.

Quickest Trot: Omar Infante, Miami Marlins - 18.86 seconds [video]
A nice counterpoint to his Miami teammate. Infante beat out six other trotters who came around the horn in the 19-second range to take his "Quickest Trot" crown on Tuesday.

 

All of Today's Trots

Hanley Ramirez.....27.25  Adrian Beltre......22.05
Carlos Lee.........25.8   Yonder Alonso......22
Andrew McCutchen...25.44  Carlos Pena........21.96
Rickie Weeks.......24.26  Mark Trumbo........21.53
Kendrys Morales....23.51  Justin Smoak.......21.12
Alberto Callaspo...23.4   Mike Trout.........20.79
Josh Reddick.......23.27  Kelly Shoppach.....19.84
Adam Jones.........23.08  Jeff Baker.........19.83
Ryan Ludwick.......22.88  Kevin Youkilis.....19.76
Lorenzo Cain.......22.85  Tyler Moore........19.74*
Albert Pujols......22.83  Jordany Valdespin..19.66
Michael Saunders...22.74* Josh Hamilton......19.56
Andruw Jones.......22.52  Omar Infante.......18.86

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.