It’s been too long.
It’s been nearly a week since the last full-blown Tater Trot Tracker post, and for that I apologize. To make matters worse, there were a number of exciting home runs hit in the meantime. Rather than skip over the missed days, I’d like this entry to cover all four days’ worth of home runs, with the Slowest and Quickest trots covering the full scope of taters and the Home Run of the Day representing, instead, the Home Run of the Week.
I hope that makes sense.
Home Run of the Day: Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates – 27.19 seconds [video]
Lonnie Chisenhall’s trio of home runs Monday night had a very good case for this spot, but what has Andrew McCutchen has done this month can’t be ignored. In 10 games in June, Cutch is batting .421/.500/1.079 (that’s a 1.079 *slugging*) with six home runs. This blast to the left field corner last night ended up bouncing off the glove of left fielder Chris Coghlan, but the real spectacle was at the plate. The bat speed as McCutchen turned on that inside pitch reminded me of Barry Bonds — in a good way. Of course, the trot speed also reminded me of Bonds, and that’s not so good (especially considering how fast the MVP used to run out his trots). C’est la vie.
Slowest Trot: Victor Martinez, Detroit Tigers (June 9) – 30.29* seconds [video]
Yes, yes. That asterisk on “30.29* seconds” means that I can’t say for sure exactly how long V-Mart’s tater trot was on Monday night and it pains me. On a normal day, it would be fine, but this trot places Victor Martinez into a very elite club. Martinez has been one of the slowest players in baseball for the entire existence of the Tater Trot Tracker, but, unlike David Ortiz, he’s always managed to keep it below half-a-minute. On Monday, the rejuvenated slugger strolled past that barrier and into the slow-trotting Hall of Fame, but I can’t say precisely where he falls.
Thanks to bad camera angles from both the Tigers and White Sox television feeds, there is no footage of Martinez’s foot touching home plate. And thanks to the elaborate routine V-Mart does as he approaches the plate, I can’t even give an educated guess as to which foot touched home. This trot could be as quick as 30.1 seconds or as slow as 30.5, but 30.29 seconds is the best I can say.
Detroit teammate Miguel Cabrera joined the 30-second club last August. The only other set of teammates to be in the club were the Dodgers’ Bobby Abreu and Hanley Ramirez in the final days of the 2012 season.
Quickest Trot: Danny Santana, Minnesota Twins (June 9) – 17.26 seconds [video]
Man, Monday was a great night for home runs. Santana breezed home on his leadoff home run in Toronto that night to the tune of 17.26 seconds. On Sunday, New York’s Curtis Granderson knocked out two dingers. At 17.95 seconds and 18.65 seconds respectively, Granderson had the next two quickest trots all week.
All of Today's Trots Andrew McCutchen..27.19 Chris Davis.......23.66 Jose Abreu........23.37 Josh Willingham...22.73 Chris Carter #2...22.62 Mark Teixeira.....22.41 Reid Brignac......22.37 Jayson Werth......22.19 Chris Carter #1...22.16 Jay Bruce.........21.93 Robinson Cano.....21.31 Aaron Hill........21.19 Stephen Vogt......20.75 Tuesday's Trots Brian Dozier.......25.15 Collin Cowgill.....22.47 Matt Holliday......24.6 Eric Hosmer........21.98 Andrelton Simmons..24.21 Taylor Teagarden...21.24 Marlon Byrd........23.98 Alex Gordon........21.21 Anthony Rizzo......23.96 Daniel Murphy......21.12* Mike Moustakas.....23.48 Andrew McCutchen...21.09 Wilin Rosario......23.46 Will Venable.......19.14 Evan Gattis........23.2 Paul Goldschmidt...N/A Freddie Freeman....22.48 Monday's Trots Victor Martinez.......30.29* Scott Van Slyke #2....22.05 Miguel Cabrera........27.51 Michael Brantley......21.88 Jose Abreu............26.88 George Kottaras.......21.72 Starlin Castro........24.08 Scott Van Slyke #1....21.61 Nick Markakis.........23.21 Ryan Flaherty.........21.39 Lonnie Chisenhall #2..23.03* Eugenio Suarez........21.08 Brian Dozier..........22.7 Ike Davis.............20.5 Lonnie Chisenhall #1..22.62 Adam Jones............20.01 Edwin Encarnacion.....22.51 Michael Choice........19.93* Jose Reyes............22.44 Ryan Ludwick..........18.97 Andrew McCutchen......22.3 Corey Dickerson.......18.66 Robinson Chirinos.....22.27 Danny Santana.........17.26 Lonnie Chisenhall #3..22.17 Sunday's Trots David Ortiz.......28.9 Mike Napoli...........21.75 Hanley Ramirez....27.21 Billy Hamilton........21.54 Ian Desmond.......24.39 Ramiro Pena...........20.94 Justin Upton......24.04 Matt Carpenter........20.93 Brandon Moss......23.74 Freddie Freeman.......20.9 Jhonny Peralta....23.06 Eduardo Nunez.........20.75 Chris Carter......23.03 Jon Singleton.........20.21 George Springer...23 Dexter Fowler.........19.94 David Peralta.....22.5 Curtis Granderson #2..18.65 Paul Goldschmidt..22.43 Curtis Granderson #1..17.95 Troy Tulowitzki...22.05
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.
