The real Opening Day finally arrived yesterday and it was glorious! In thirteen games, we had 24 home runs running the gamut — a two-homer game, a quick trot or two, and even an extra-innings walkoff. Hard to ask for more than that.
Let’s get to the trots!
Home Run of the Day: Neil Walker, Pittsburgh Pirates – 23.1 seconds [video]
Opening Day was a hot ticket in Pittsburgh yesterday. Not only were the fans welcoming back their 2013 postseason squad for the first time, but Andew McCutchen was also receiving his MVP award in a pregame ceremony (from none other than Barry Bonds!). The least the team could do was win one for the crowd. But with everything scoreless heading into extra innings, that was far from a certainty. That is, until Neil Walker came to bat in the bottom of the tenth. With one crack of the bat, 43,000 fans knew right away that the Pirates would start 2014 with a winning record. It’s a good way to start the year.
Slowest Trot: Victor Martinez, Detroit Tigers – 25.78 seconds [video]
It was an uncharacteristically quick trot from one of baseball’s most underrated slow trotters. And, yes, a nearly 26-second trot can be “quick” when it comes from Victor Martinez.
The next slowest trot of the day came from Jimmy Rollins, who celebrated his 200th career home run with a grand slam in Texas.
Quickest Trot: Alejandro de Aza #2, Chicago White Sox – 17.83 seconds [video]
De Aza owns two of the three quickest trots of the night, with only New York’s Juan Lagares (18.52 seconds) getting in the way of him sweeping the day. You’d think that it was De Aza’s first trot that was quicker, since so many players tend to slow down a bit after going yard twice in a game, but somehow De Aza broke that mold. While nowhere near quick enough to end up on the leaderboard at the end of the year, the 17.83 second trot will probably stay near the top of the early season list for a while.
All of Today's Trots Victor Martinez......25.78 Erik Kratz...........22.6 Jimmy Rollins........25* Cody Asche...........22.08 Carlos Gonzalez......24.92 Marcell Ozuna........21.49 Justin Smoak.........24.2 Buster Posey.........20.94 Adam LaRoche.........23.91 Mike Trout...........20.88 Nelson Cruz..........23.47 Alex Rios............20.56 Miguel Montero.......23.34 Anthony Rendon.......20.36 Yadier Molina........23.29 Grady Sizemore.......19.21 Marlon Byrd..........23.23 Andrew Brown.........18.91 David Wright.........23.21 Alejandro de Aza #1..18.78 Brandon Belt.........23.11 Juan Lagares.........18.52 Neil Walker..........23.1 Alejandro de Aza #2..17.83
