For the first time in 2014, someone other than David Ortiz broke the 30-second barrier. Let’s get right to those trots!
Home Run of the Day: Jon Singleton, Houston Astros – 19.7 seconds [video]
Major league debut. First career hit. A home run. Wait, didn’t we just do this with Oscar Taveras? Singleton, who incited a bit of controversy this week with the way he was called up, clearly enjoyed himself during the home run and ended up rounding the bases two-seconds faster than his St. Louis counterpart.
Slowest Trot: Nelson Cruz, Baltimore Orioles – 30.15 seconds [video]
It’s the fifth 30-second trot of 2014, but only the first from someone other than David Ortiz. This was no Cadillac trot or anything, however. Cruz pulled the ball to left field, but it landed well fair. There may have been a moment or two where Cruz was uncertain if it was going to land foul, but that didn’t last too long. Instead, Cruz, who was averaging a 23.75 second trot heading into Tuesday night, took his time on the bases thanks to a cramp. According to Richard Durrett at ESPN Dallas:
Cruz knew it was out as soon as he hit it. And he took his time rounding the bases to be sure he didn’t injure himself.
“I was cramping the whole time,” he said.
Considering what happened to former Oriole Luke Scott in 2010, the extra caution was probably a good idea.
Quickest Trot: Peter Bourjos, St. Louis Cardinals – 17.75 seconds [video]
For the first time in a long time, we had a nice race for the quickest trot of the day. St. Louis rookie Kolten Wong hit his first career home run — a grand slam — and raced home in 18.56 seconds. In Atlanta, B.J. Upton gave us his usual 18-second trot. Those were both bested by Peter Bourjos, who outdid his St. Louis teammate with a 17.75 second trot.
All of Today's Trots Nelson Cruz........30.15 DJ LeMahieu........20.89 John Buck..........24.83 Troy Tulowitzki....20.87 Jose Abreu.........24.23 Nick Evans.........20.56 Brian Dozier.......23.67 Xander Bogaerts....20.27 Josh Willingham....23.03 Brandon Moss #1....20.24* Evan Gattis........22.65 Chris Owings.......19.96* Alex Gordon........22.35* Josh Hamilton......19.8 Adam Jones.........22.35 Tyler Flowers......19.79 Neil Walker........22.28 Hunter Pence.......19.76 Mark Teixeira......22.12 Jon Singleton......19.7 Adrian Beltre......21.92 Anthony Rendon.....19.65 Pedro Alvarez......21.88 Collin Cowgill.....19.21 Chris Carter.......21.87 Stefen Romero......19.2 Devin Mesoraco.....21.32 Chris Coghlan......18.99 Robinson Chirinos..21.19 Brett Lawrie.......18.95 Brandon Moss #2....21.09 Kolten Wong........18.56 Ian Desmond........21.09 B.J. Upton.........18.03 J.D. Martinez......20.92 Peter Bourjos......17.75
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.
