The big story of Sunday afternoon was the Brewers/Pirates brawl that came about after Pittsburgh pitcher Gerrit Cole yelled at Milwaukee centerfielder Carlos Gomez for admiring a ball that bounced off the outfield wall that the speedy Gomez turned into a triple. The fracas caused quite the uproar among baseball fans, but I’m upset about it for a different reason: by not hustling out of the box, Gomez deprived us of the first (legitimate) inside-the-park home run of the season.
And I’m not exaggerating. I don’t mean that, if Gomez hadn’t decided to enjoy his blast off the wall, that maybe we would have seen the first inside-the-parker of 2014. I am 100% confident that he would have rounded the bases safely. It’s based on his trot time to third base.
As I noted on Twitter:
FYI: Gomez slid into third at 13.47 secs and the ball was 0.5 sec behind him. If he had been running hard from the box, it’s a definite IPHR
— Larry Granillo (@wezen_ball) April 20, 2014
The quickest inside-the-park trot times are all in the 14.0-to-14.5 second range. With Gomez’s speed (which we’ve seen many times here), there is little doubt that an inside-the-parker from him would be in the same range. If he had busted out of the box, Gomez would have been more than halfway down the third base line (and probably 2 / 3 or 3 / 4 down the line) at the 13.47 second mark. With the ball so far behind him, a hustling Gomez would have scored the run easily.
If you want to be mad at Gomez on that play yesterday (note, I’m not talking about his attitude after the play), then be mad at him for depriving us of a true inside-the-park home run, not that he watched a home run for a second too long. The Pirates, honestly, should have thanked him for not putting them down a run.
Now let’s get to the trots!
Home Run of the Day: Josmil Pinto, Minnesota Twins – 22.73 seconds [video]
A nice 459-foot blast from the young Twin.
Slowest Trot: Jose Abreu, Chicago White Sox – 24.23 seconds [video]
The fifth home run of the year for Chicago’s rookie. White Sox announcer Steve Stone wanted you to know that it had “been a while” since Abreu’s last home run even though Abreu is only 19 games into his big league career.
Quickest Trot: Ryan Braun, Milwauke Brewers – 19.03 seconds [video]
There were four home runs in this game following the brawl (including a 14th-inning go-ahead shot for Khris Davis). All players involved did a nice bit of keeping their head down and not milking the trot, including this trot from Braun that managed to snare the day’s quickest spot.
All of Today's Trots Jose Abreu........24.23 Justin Morneau....21.81 Jimmy Rollins.....24.08 Josh Donaldson....21.76 Nelson Cruz.......23.51 Zack Cozart.......20.86 Neil Walker.......23.33 Jordan Danks......20.76 Ryan Howard.......23.21 Marwin Gonzalez...20.64 Mark Reynolds.....23.05 Nick Hundley......20.49 Josmil Pinto......22.73 Khris Davis.......20.39 Alcides Escobar...22.64* Jay Bruce.........20.22 Jonny Gomes.......22.36 Charlie Blackmon..19.58 Buster Posey......22.32 Yasiel Puig.......19.56 Michael Brantley..22.16 Ryan Braun .......19.03 Dayan Viciedo.....22.11*
Click here for the ongoing 2014 Tater Trot Tracker Leaderboard. You can also follow @TaterTrotTrkr on Twitter for more up-to-the-minute trot times.
