If you missed it yesterday, there is now an All-Time Tater Trot Tracker Leaderboard available. And while David Ortiz does dominate the slowest trots list, Adam Rosales’s dominance of the quickest trots list puts him to shame.
Now let’s get to the trots!
Home Run of the Day: Bobby Abreu, New York Mets – 23.24 seconds [video]
On September 28, 2012, in Dodger Stadium, Bobby Abreu hit his final career home run — and he seemed to know it. He trotted home in 31.56 seconds, a record for slowest non-injury-related trot that would last until earlier this month. Although he didn’t officially retire after the 2012 season, Abreu didn’t sign with a team for 2013. His career was most definitely over.
Only it wasn’t. The forty-year-old outfielder was recently placed on the Mets’ big league roster and, in his fourth game back, launched the home run you see above. He trotted home in a gleeful 23.24 seconds, happy to be back in the majors. It’s a good moment for Abreu, but a sad one for the Tater Trot Tracker. What makes that September 2012 trot special anymore? Now it’s just another ridiculously slow trot with no sentiment behind it.
Slowest Trot: Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers – 27.93 seconds [video]
This is a tough day. In New York, Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s home run briefly bounced back onto the field of play, causing some confusion. Salty stopped at second for a few seconds before the umpires pointed him home. Because of that, his trot goes down as “N/A”.
That one was easy, though. In Los Angeles, Matt Kemp’s blast over the center field wall was nearly robbed by the Colorado outfielder. Kemp slowed down, grabbing his helmet in disappointment before realizing that the ball was never caught. Without good footage of Kemp, however, it’s impossible to say for certain if he merely slowed down or if he actually stopped. Because I can’t see that he stopped for certain, the trot time counts. I’m not too confident about it, however.
Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Freddie Freeman had a similar experience. The camera cuts back to Freeman after the ball clears the fence. It looks like Freddie is starting from a dead stop at first — as if he stopped and waited at the bag to see what would happen — but it’s impossible to say for sure. The trot time goes down as official, but it wouldn’t take much for both of these trots to be considered invalid.
Quickest Trot: Kyle Seager, Seattle Mariners – 19.01 seconds [video]
Seager beats out Michael Saunders (19.17 seconds) and Khris Davis (19.21 seconds) for the night’s quickest trot.
All of Today's Trots Matt Kemp...........27.93 Mike Trout.............22.43 Freddie Freeman.....25.46 Giancarlo Stanton......22.28 Victor Martinez.....24.63 Justin Upton...........21.98 Luis Valbuena.......24.16 Chris Carter...........21.97 Adrian Gonzalez.....23.47* Evan Gattis............20.98 Josmil Pinto........23.32 Will Middlebrooks......20.33 Bobby Abreu.........23.24 Dexter Fowler..........20.01 Juan Francisco......23.04 John Ryan Murphy.......19.85 Brandon Moss........23.01 Khris Davis............19.21 Jose Bautista.......22.97 Michael Saunders.......19.17 Welington Castillo..22.86 Kyle Seager............19.01 A.J. Pierzynski.....22.72 Jarrod Saltalamacchia..N/A Buster Posey........22.68
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.
