There were only 13 home runs around the league yesterday, but they packed a punch — especially if you like ’em quick.
Let’s get to the trots!
Home Run of the Day: Yasiel Puig, Los Angeles Dodgers – 19.4 seconds [video]
The trot was disappointingly slow for someone of Puig’s trotting caliber — it makes me worry that he’ll go the way of Bryce Harper and Jason Heyward and start giving us pedestrian 19-20 second trots instead of the 16-second trots we all know he’s capable of. The blast itself was something pretty to see, though.
Slowest Trot: Freddie Freeman #1, Atlanta Braves – 23.24 seconds [video]
One of two players to hit multiple home runs on Tuesday (the immortal Brad Miller was the other). Freeman finds himself as the slowest trotter by default. A 23-second trot is a perfectly routine time. It just so happened that no one else was slower than that last night.
Quickest Trot: Carlos Gomez, Milwaukee Brewers – 16.18 seconds [video]
A leadoff home run from Carlos Gomez that has a halfway decent chance of already ending up as the fastest home run of 2014. The 16.18 second trot would have been the fastest trot of the year in 2011 and 2012, and would have only missed #1 in 2013 by 0.05 seconds.
I’ve seen some speculation that Gomez’s quick trot was a reaction to the beef he had with the Braves last September (when Brian McCann interrupted his trot home after Gomez preened for too long). I don’t discount that possibility, but I’ve seen enough quick trots from Gomez that it seems more like standard fare than anything else. (He had five 16-second trots in 2012 alone.)
Oh, and Brad Miller had trots of 17.69 seconds and 18.12 seconds in his game last night. That’s pretty good too.
All of Today's Trots Freddie Freeman #1..23.24 Jason Heyward.......22.81 Freddie Freeman #2..22.45 L.J. Hoes...........22.36 Jesus Guzman........22.06 Seth Smith..........21.21 Adam Lind...........21.16 Brandon Belt........20.03 Yasiel Puig.........19.4 Raul Ibanez.........19.1 Brad Miller #2......18.12 Brad Miller #1......17.69 Carlos Gomez........16.18
