As you may have noticed, the Tater Trot Tracker was silent over the weekend while I was away on vacation. The plan is to catch up on the missed tater trots over the next week or so. They can really add up over five days!
In the meantime, let’s get to the trots!
Home Run of the Day: Giancarlo Stanton #1, Miami Marlins – 21.47 seconds [video]
There were a few home runs hit longer than this one on Sunday — including a blast from Albert Pujols in Anaheim that ended up landing on top of the umbrellas protecting the center field cameramen — but there’s something about this opposite-field blast that makes me want to keep watching it.
Oh, and let’s not forget the first true inside-the-park home run of 2014 (which you can read about below)!
Slowest Trot: Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds – 25.62 seconds [video]
This is a pretty typical trot from Phillips, with Dat Dude BP taking the shortest possible steps his body allows as he runs down the third base line.
In the White Sox game, Jose Abreu almost had to change his trot at the last minute, as he nearly ran into the next batter (Adam Dunn) who tried to dig into the batter’s box while Abreu was still on the basepaths.
After a few close calls (all of which seemed to involve Ian Desmond), we finally have the first inside-the-park home run of 2014! And it’s the third-slowest inside-the-parker of the Tater Trot Tracker-era, behind only Conor Gillaspie’s 17.41 second trot (where he fell down rounding third) and Jhonny Peralta’s 16.74 second sprint.
So how did that happen? Myers did not run hard out of the box at all, taking more than six seconds to reach first base. It was understandable, as the ball reached the wall in the depths of Yankee Stadium’s center field. But thanks to a weird jump by Jacoby Ellsbury — and a shamefully statuesque Carlos Beltran in right field — the ball rolled and rolled along the warning track. Myers put on the afterburners once he passed first base, taking less than four-seconds between each of the bases from then on out. The look on Myers’ face after touching home even seemed to wonder how he could manage an inside-the-park home run after such a slow start out of the box.
All of Today's Trots Brandon Phillips.....25.62 Colby Rasmus.........21.53 Jose Abreu...........24.45 Giancarlo Stanton #1.21.47 Albert Pujols........24.35 George Kottaras #2...21.18 Nelson Cruz..........24.26 Paul Goldschmidt.....20.77 Brandon Crawford #2..24.12 Michael Choice.......20.52 J.P. Arencibia.......23.51 Alex Presley.........20.21 Christian Yelich.....22.98 Giancarlo Stanton #2.20.12 Brayan Pena..........22.86 Erick Aybar..........20.1 Brandon Crawford #1..22.19 Nick Castellanos.....19.91 Alex Avila...........22.15 Khris Davis..........19.9 Melky Cabrera........21.89 Jonathan Villar......19.89 Justin Morneau.......21.8 A.J. Pierzynski......19.8* Scooter Gennett......21.76 Dayan Viciedo........19.38 George Kottaras #1...21.57 Wil Myers............16.58
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.
