A quick update to celebrate a big milestone. We’ll be back with the rest of the trots later today.
What would you do after hitting your first home run in the big leagues? Would your excitement get the best of you and cause you to speed around the bases? Or would you want to savor every last second of that magical moment and, instead, take your sweet time coming home? It’s not exactly a choice you can plan for — it comes down to instinct and personality — but it’s certainly fun to think about, especially for those of us who will never have the chance to stare down a major league pitcher and give him a wink like ol’ Moonlight Graham.
But if you’re a big league hitter who has gone up to the plate more than 1,500 times in your career without rounding the bases, it might feel like more of a weight than anything else. So, when Ben Revere hit his first big league home run in 1,566 plate appearances last night at Citizen’s Bank Park — a shot over the right-field fence very reminiscent of another famous first-career home run — the question I had was how would he enjoy his victory lap of the bases.
At 21.96 seconds, Revere’s tater trot was a nearly perfect example of the average trot. He started out quick on the bases, but slowed down into a more deliberate pace upon seeing the ball clear the fence. The best part is the look on his face as he makes his way into the home stretch. While the announcers are showing their excitement for Revere’s milestone, Revere himself looks perplexed. “Did that really go out? What do I do now?”
Finally, Revere walks the final steps into home plate, his hands and face raised towards the sky in thanks. It’s exactly what you might expect from a slugger and, for this one night, that slugger was Ben Revere. Way to go.
A quick note about a trot from over the weekend. On Sunday, Chicago’s Junior Lake was nearly robbed of a home run by San Diego’s Seth Smith in left field. After Smith failed to catch the ball, he stood in front of the wall for a moment without moving, disappointed with himself. Lake, however, couldn’t tell if Smith had the ball or not. As he reached third base, a confused Lake slowed into a near-stop, taking small steps toward third. Since he never actually stopped, the trot is considered valid and Lake’s time goes down on the leaderboard as one of the slowest of the season. It’s not his fault, of course, but we do have to be consistent with such things.
Quickest Trot: Carlos Gomez, Milwaukee Brewers – 17.73 seconds [video]
Gomez is the best. 17 seconds and you can see all of the points where he could have run faster if he wanted to. I love it.
All of Today's Trots Justin Smoak.......24.44 Devin Mesoraco.....21.29 Miguel Cabrera.....24 Juan Francisco.....21.26 Wilin Rosario......23.76 Darin Ruf..........21.15 Matt Holliday......23.51 C.J. Cron..........21.09 Edwin Encarnacion..23.5 Andre Ethier.......21 Mark Reynolds......22.74 Oswaldo Arcia......20.9 Torii Hunter.......22.45 Adam Lind..........20.66 Allen Craig........22.19 Jason Heyward......20.56 Nelson Cruz........22.17 Khris Davis........20.26 John Jaso..........22.02 Martin Prado.......20.24 Ben Revere.........21.96 Tommy Medica.......19.65 Steve Pearce.......21.66 Carlos Gomez.......17.73 Gordon Beckham.....21.29 Monday's Trots Adam LaRoche........24.61 Desmond Jennings....21.6 David Ortiz.........24.45 Giancarlo Stanton...21.44 Ryan Howard.........23.86 Lucas Duda..........21.19 Dioner Navarro......23.69 David DeJesus.......20.94 Derek Norris........23.65 Yonder Alonso.......20.94 George Springer.....23.5 Steve Tolleson......20.69 Edwin Encarnacion...23.37 Nate Schierholtz....20.43 Albert Pujols.......23.25 Khris Davis.........20.33 Dayan Viciedo.......22.93 Josh Donaldson......20.22 Pablo Sandoval......22.89 Jonathan Schoop #1..19.87 James Loney.........22.61 Jonathan Schoop #2..19.76 Lyle Overbay........22.44 Kyle Blanks.........19.76 John Mayberry.......22.23 Brandon Moss........18.6 Trevor Plouffe......21.97 A.J. Pollock........18.44* Everth Cabrera......21.72 Yoenis Cespedes.....N/A Gaby Sanchez........21.69 Sunday's Trots Junior Lake........29.25 Justin Turner......21.66 Starlin Castro.....25.65 Evan Gattis #1.....21.62 Chris Johnson......24.26 Sean Rodriguez.....21.22 Edwin Encarnacion..24.04 Hunter Pence.......21.01 Evan Gattis #2.....23.08 Chris Iannetta.....21 Jonny Gomes........22.72 Evan Longoria......20.95 Nelson Cruz........22.47 Josh Harrison......20.86 Marc Krauss........22.36 Justin Upton.......20.62 Josh Donaldson.....22.08 Chris Owings.......20.04 George Springer....22.04 Michael Choice.....19.25 Marcell Ozuna......22.01 Brian Roberts......N/A Manny Machado......21.76
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.
