Star Trek beckons, so let's get right to the trots!

Home Run of the Day: Justin Upton, Atlanta Braves - 22.89 seconds [video]
Some big home runs Friday night. Paul Goldschmidt's second home run of the game in Miami came at the end of a 13-pitch at-bat. Pedro Alvarez crushed a ball into the depths of the Allegheny in Pittsburgh. Joey Votto hit a ball so hard that the Cincinnati announcers said "they better get a GPS to find that baseball!" Even with all of those blasts, this grand slam from Justin Upton, which Hit Tracker Online called 461 feet, was tops.

Except for maybe Adam Rosales' sprint mentioned below...

On September 28, 2012, Bobby Abreu, in what looks to be his final career home run, blasted a shot down the right field line in Dodger Stadium. After strutting out of the box, Abreu took his sweet time rounding the bases. Vin Scully even said, after Abreu rounded second, "And Bobby's going to take his time and enjoy the ride."

Abreu's trot ended up clocking in at 31.56 seconds. It was the slowest trot in the Tater Trot Tracker era that was not the result of an injury.

Thursday afternoon, Colorado's Todd Helton put himself in a virtual tie with Abreu for slowest non-injury related trot with a 31.54 second trot off of San Francisco's Matt Cain in Coors Field.

(Click "Read More" to continue reading.)

The Tracker has been away for a few days and we've got a lot of catching up to do. Let's get to the trots!

Home Run of the Day: Todd Helton, Colorado Rockies - 31.54 seconds [video]
We'll talk about Helton's home run separately. In the meantime, enjoy the Manny Ramirez home run above. With continued thanks to Manny Does Taiwan, this was Manny's sixth home run in Taiwan. His trot was a bit tough to clock thanks to the camera angle used at home plate, but the trot clocked in at no slower than 26.92 seconds (and possibly even 26.3 seconds). That's a quick one for Manny.

A pretty great day for home runs, all things told. Let's get right down to the trots.

Home Run of the Day: Justin Upton, Atlanta Braves - 19.6 seconds [video]
I for one am shocked to learn that Justin Upton hit the ball a really, really long way while playing a game in Chase Field. Shocked.

If it weren't for Justin Upton's return to Arizona, this category might be nothing but Aaron Hicks. Not only did he hit a pair of bombs for the Twins on their way to a victory over the White Sox, Hicks also made this outstanding catch to rob a home run from Adam Dunn. It's basically unfair.

This is an on-going list of 2013's slowest and quickest tater trots. To see daily updates about each and every home run, visit the Tater Trot Tracker at Baseball Prospectus. You can also follow the Tater Trot Tracker on Twitter at @TaterTrotTrkr.

Leaderboard Updated On: May 17, 2013
Most Recent Post: May 17

Slowest Trot

1. 1. Todd Helton - May 16, 31.54 secs.
2. 2. David Ortiz - May 14, 28.72
3. 3. David Ortiz - Apr. 26, 28.44
4. 4. Ian Kinsler - Apr. 2, 28.36
5. 5. David Ortiz - May 1, 27.87
6. 6. Wilin Rosario - Apr. 13, 27.75
7. 7. David Ortiz - Apr. 25, 27.51
8. 8. David Ortiz - May 5, 27.33
9. 9. Billy Butler - Apr. 22, 26.79
10. 10. Aramis Ramirez #1 - May 17, 26.43

(Click "Continue Reading" to see the rest.)

According to Old Time Family Baseball, there were only nine home runs hit with pink bats on Sunday compared to the 23 hit in the two years prior (and though there were only 8 pink bat home runs last year, that was out of only 26 home runs total as opposed to 35 home runs this year). That's a disappointing trend on the pink bat front.

But let's get to the trots!

Home Run of the Day: Edwin Encarnacion, Toronto Blue Jays - 24.93 seconds [video]
One of five home runs for the Blue Jays. This one just happened to land outside of the stadium. In Texas, Adrian Beltre hit another of his beautiful, knee-on-the-ground home runs. He had to stop at second before the play was reviewed, however, which takes away a lot of the fun in it.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. I hope it's a beautiful spring day for all of you out there. In Major League Baseball, it means we get base hits and home runs coming off the barrels of pink bats. It's always a fun day. Ask Bill Hall.

Let's get to the trots!

Home Run of the Day: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays - 20.44* seconds [video]
A walkoff home run from Evan Longoria. Ho-hum.

Also in this game were two big home runs. One was a monster blast from James Loney (shown above); the other was a game-tying grand slam from Jesus Guzman (video). It's hard to say who celebrated their home run more between the two of them, but you can be sure of one thing: the Pirates will go ahead and plunk them both for it.

A day off means we need to get right to the trots.

Home Run of the Day: Prince Fielder, Detroit Tigers and Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers - 23.44 seconds and 24.43 seconds [video and video]
Can you remember any two more mirror-image identical home runs in a game? I love 'em.

It is with great excitement that I announce that I will be writing for Baseball Nation on a regular basis now. I'm stoked to be joining the likes of Rob Neyer and Grant Brisbee, who have been some of my favorite writers for a while.

My first post went up today. It talks about the trials of being a Larry. Others who share my name will understand. Some of your favorite Larrys you love to hate are included.

I'd also like to take a minute to thank the folks over at Baseball Prospectus for giving me a chance to be a part of their crew for more than two years. It was a lot of fun and I'm proud to have been a part of BPro for as long as I was.

My Baseball Nation posts should go up once a week, usually at the end of the week.

Friend of the blog MIchael Clair (@clairbearattack), who runs one of the best baseball Tumblrs around, is running a blogathon this weekend to raise money for Doctors Without Borders. Beginning this morning, Mike will post a new, not-previously-written blog every 30 minutes for 24 hours. Tomorrow, a series of guest posts - including one from me - will go up as well.

It's a great cause that should be a lot of fun. Check it out at Old Time Family Baseball. You can also donate here.