I must apologize again for going M.I.A. this weekend. I was a bit too busy to update the Tater Trot Tracker. But I’m back now and working to get caught up.
So let’s get right to the trots!
This is a bit odd. Normally, I would make sure to highlight Chris Davis’s three home runs in this spot somehow. And, if not that, I would talk about the Kurt Suzuki inside-the-park home run instead. But thanks to the home run you see above, I have no choice to point out this ludicrously long home run from Edwin Encarnacion.
Not only does the ball clear the Green Monster. Not even does it fly entirely over Landsdowne Street out there. No, the best part of this home run was how the ball ends up smacking into the billboard sitting on the roof of the Cask’N’Flagon across the street. Now that’s some showmanship!
Slowest Trot: Chris Davis #3, Baltimore Orioles – 25.13 seconds [video]
Three bombs from Davis, and they all looked so effortless. The trio of taters doubled Davis’ total for the year. Hopefully it marks the start of a power surge for 2013’s home run champ.
Quickest Trot: Kurt Suzuki, Minnesota Twins – 16.61 seconds [video]
What happens when an inside-the-park home run isn’t an inside-the-park home run? Last night in San Diego, Suzuki hit a fly ball to left field that bounced back onto the field. Seeing the ball in play, Suzuki kept hustling around the bases. Meanwhile, left fielder Seth Smith gave up on the ball because he was sure that it had landed on the other side of the fence before coming back onto the field. The umpire never called it a home run, though, so it was played by the rest of the defense as a live ball before Suzuki crossed the plate 16.61 seconds later.
This isn’t the first time this happened. Back in 2010, David DeJesus had a similar incident. Later that year, the same thing happened to Jose Bautista (for some reason, the play was officially ruled as a standard home run after the game).
For Tater Trot tracking purposes, I don’t care too much about how it’s officially ruled. All I know is that everyone on the field treated that like it was an inside-the-park home run — including the umpires — so that’s how I’ll be classifying it. That makes it one of the slowest inside-the-parkers on record.
All of Today's Trots Chris Davis #3........25.13 Matt Adams............22.4 Adam Dunn.............24.48 Ike Davis.............22.24 Chris Davis #1........24.4 Lucas Duda............22.12 Chris Davis #2........24.36 Wilin Rosario.........21.8 Adrian Gonzalez.......24.14 Adrian Beltre.........21.76 Edwin Encarnacion #1..24.06 Torii Hunter..........21.69 Melky Cabrera.........24 Tyler Flowers.........21.45 Jhonny Peralta........23.95 David Murphy..........21.44 Jimmy Rollins.........23.41 Justin Upton..........19.95 Andrelton Simmons.....22.94 Curtis Granderson.....17.88 Edwin Encarnacion #2..22.9 Kurt Suzuki...........16.61 Chris Parmelee........22.84 Alex Avila............N/A Erik Kratz............22.74 Jonny Gomes...........N/A Nelson Cruz...........22.6
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.
