{"id":436438,"date":"2026-10-24T02:22:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T02:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/436438\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T02:22:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T02:22:19","slug":"move-over-bat-flips-baseballs-slow-home-run-trots-could-have-their-world-series-moment-chicago-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/436438\/","title":{"rendered":"Move over, bat flips. Baseball\u2019s slow home run trots could have their World Series moment. \u2013 Chicago Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILWAUKEE \u2014 Baseball is in a bat-flipping golden era, where players are encouraged to soak up their turns in the spotlight, and Junior Caminero, Yandy Diaz and William Contreras<\/a> are taking bat tossing and slow celebratory trots to new levels this October.<\/p>\n

Caminero, the Tampa Bay Rays\u2019 budding slugger, took 38.7 seconds to saunter around the bases after an AL Championship Series home run. Famous in baseball circles for his slow, spectacular jaunts, his average trot time is still faster than those of Diaz, his Tampa teammate, and Contreras, a Milwaukee Brewers foe in a World Series that begins Friday night<\/a>.<\/p>\n

World Series preview: Surprising Tampa Rays-Milwaukee Brewers showdown to open with Jacob Misiorowski\u2019s heat<\/a><\/p>\n

Opinions on their leisurely trips home differ across the generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what I\u2019d do: Put one right in his ribs next time up,\u201d Hall of Fame relief pitcher Goose Gossage said. \u201cAct like a big leaguer. It\u2019s a real simple deal. Act like you\u2019ve been there and done that before. They act like fools.\u201d<\/p>\n

Old-school players may disapprove of the theatrical trots, but a lot has changed since Jos\u00e9 Bautista\u2019s massive bat flip during a 2015 AL Division Series became an inflection point in the debate over sportsmanship vs. celebration. Major League Baseball, determined to embrace its young stars and international flair, has successfully carved out space for viral \u2014 and marketable \u2014 displays of exuberance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game is different. It\u2019s in a different place, different state,\u201d said Rays manager Kevin Cash, a big league player from 2002-10. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to cross the line of showing up the other team. Always show respect for that, but they\u2019re exciting moments and I want our guys to enjoy them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caminero\u2019s first postseason homer, a two-run drive off the left-field foul pole that gave the Rays a four-run, seventh-inning lead in Monday night\u2019s pennant-clinching 7-3 win, resulted in that 38.7-second stroll, the longest tracked uninterrupted postseason home run trot since MLB Statcast started measuring in 2015.<\/p>\n

His Trop Trot took more than twice as long as Usain Bolt\u2019s 19.19-second record in the 200-meter dash, longer than the 400-meter relay record of 36.84 seconds set by Jamaica, longer than the 500-meter speed skating record of 33.61 seconds by Pavel Kulizhnikov in 2019.<\/p>\n

Caminero turned toward the Rays dugout short of first base, pounded his chest with both fists four times, cupped his right ear after rounding second to hear more cheers and pounded his chest again with his right hand. He stopped ahead of the plate, pointed into the stands at Randy Arozarena and imitated the former Rays star\u2019s crossed-arms pose, then crossed home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to really watch, beating on his chest like Tarzan,\u201d Gossage said.<\/p>\n

Caminero wasn\u2019t concerned about Gossage\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust enjoy the moment,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody enjoys the moment because I don\u2019t know if the moment is coming (for) us again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rays'Rays\u2019 Yandy D\u00edaz celebrates his two-run home run against the Guardians during the eighth inning in Game 6 of an American League Championship Series game in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Oct. 19, 2026. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)<\/p>\n

Caminero holds the regular-season record trot time at 40.65 seconds, set Sept. 15 with his walk-off, ninth-inning drive against the Athletics\u2019 Elvis Alvarado. Statcast\u2019s uninterrupted trots don\u2019t include balls when a home run was not immediately clear to the batter.<\/p>\n

At this rate, the World Series record-long trot seems certain to fall, 31.29 seconds by the New York Yankees\u2019 Juan Soto after going deep off the Los Angeles Dodgers\u2019 Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 of 2024.<\/p>\n

Those Rays\u2019 trots are modest compared to Caminero\u2019s roughly 56-second excursion when he hit a go-ahead homer off the center-field scoreboard<\/a> in the top of the ninth inning for Tigres del Licey in the deciding Game 7 of the 2025 Dominican Winter League championship. He jumped up and down as if on a pogo stick as he jogged, came to a full stop for celebrations with teammates at first and third, then tossed his helmet as he neared home plate.<\/p>\n

Contreras had the slowest average trot time this season at 31.14 seconds, followed by Diaz at 31 seconds. Next were Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Josue DePaula (30.31), Texas\u2019 Joc Pederson (29.64), Seattle\u2019s Arozarena (29.22), San Diego\u2019s Manny Machado (29.05), Houston\u2019s Nelson Vel\u00e1zquez (29.02) and Caminero (28.92).<\/p>\n

In an age when Roadrunner sprints are pass\u00e9, Washington\u2019s Andrew Pinckney sped around the bases in 18.55 seconds for the fastest trot of the season on an over-the-wall homer. His rapid run was on his first big league hit, a home run off Philadelphia\u2019s Cristopher S\u00e1nchez on Aug. 6. Pinckney debuted a day earlier.<\/p>\n

Adam Rosales of the Oakland Athletics has the three fastest trots on over-the-fence homers since Statcast started, 15.88 seconds on June 25, 2017, 15.9 seconds that April 22 and 15.96 seconds on Sept. 24, 2016.<\/p>\n

Caminero claims Diaz\u2019s trots are better than his own, but Diaz wouldn\u2019t accept superiority.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s tied,\u201d Diaz said smiling and then starting to laugh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILWAUKEE \u2014 Baseball is in a bat-flipping golden era, where players are encouraged to soak up their turns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[114,3817,110,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-436438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}