After taking San Diego’s Will Harris deep last night, the Dodgers’ Bobby Abreu is expected to cross home plate sometime before Halloween. Prior to Abreu’s leisurely stroll, there were a number of trips around the bases that cracked the half-minute mark, and while I’m quoting from Baseball Prospectus’ Larry Granillo, I’ve taken care to delete the instances where it could’ve been blamed on an injury.
David Ortiz – May 24, 2010 – 30.59 seconds. This was the very first tater trot to break the barrier. The Roger Bannister moment, if you will. In order for this moment to arrive, a number of things had to line up perfectly. First, it was David Ortiz. Second, the ball was a huge pop-up right down the rightfield line that could have landed fair or foul (batters tend to stay in the box longer on these). And, finally, when Ortiz did start to run, the home plate umpire got in his way for just a moment. None of these things should have caused a 30-second trot, but they all worked together to give us a memorable night.
Hanley Ramirez – July 1, 2012 – 30.3 seconds. Hanley Ramirez hit his first home run in a month and then trotted around the bases really slow. Because he’s Hanley Ramirez. There’s no other reason for his slow trot.