Only ten home runs across Thursday's six games. I guess the home run gods decided to be a little kind yesterday. For that, I am grateful.
Let's get right to the trots!
Home Run of the Day: Prince Fielder, Detroit Tigers – 25.11 seconds [video]
It's really difficult to choose between this Prince Fielder bomb to right or Pedro Alvarez's blast off the rear railing in PNC Park (see here) for Home Run of the Day. By distance (according to Hit Tracker Online), Alvarez bests Fielder by three feet, 443 to 440. The style points clearly go to Fielder, though, who gives one of the most emphatic celebrations I've seen him give. It's a bit much – but boy did that ball fly.
Slowest Trot: Yoenis Cespedes, Oakland Athletics – 26.21* seconds [video]
In all honesty, Cespedes' walkoff shot could very well have been Home Run of the Day, but I wanted to give Fielder and Alvarez some attention too. Cespedes took a while on his tater trot, but it wasn't out of showmanship. Cespedes is still nursing a bad leg, so he had little reason to get out of there quickly. His ball, on the other hand, was out of the park like a laser.
Quickest Trot: Giancarlo Stanton, Miami Marlins – 19.55 seconds [video]
However, Stanton's blast also left the stadium on a rocketship. In both Stanton's and Cespedes' case, the ball was over the wall in roughly three seconds. For Cespedes, it was down the leftfield line at the Coliseum and over the eight-foot wall there. In Fenway, Stanton blasted his line drive over the 37-foot high Green Monster, but roughly 30 feet closer to home. Either way, those balls were hit very hard.
All of Today's Trots Yoenis Cespedes....26.21* Rod Barajas........26.0 Prince Fielder.....25.11 Jimmy Rollins......23.59 Pedro Alvarez......23.28 Wilin Rosario......22.39 Garrett Jones......21.71 Will Middlebrooks..20.13 Chris Nelson.......19.91 Giancarlo Stanton..19.55
Click here for the ongoing 2012 Tater Trot Tracker Leaderboard. You can also follow @TaterTrotTrkr on Twitter for more up-to-the-minute trot times.
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