Rhys Hoskins enjoys outrageously long home run trot against Mets pitcher who threw near his head

Hoskins spent 34 seconds rounding the bases, the slowest trot since at least 2010.

You need some context to understand why Phillies slugger Rhys Hoskins took the slowest home run trot since at least 2010 in the ninth inning of his team’s win over the Mets on Wednesday, and to recognize why it was hilarious and awesome.

Phillies pitchers plunked a pair of Mets hitters in the first game of the series on Monday, and when Hoskins came up in the ninth inning on Tuesday, Mets reliever Jacob Rhame unleashed two fastballs near Hoskins’ head. Hoskins ducked away from both. It wasn’t clear that Rhame was trying to drill him, but Hoskins understandably objected to the high-90s heaters bound for his face: A fastball to the buttcheek often represents enforcement of baseball’s largely stupid unwritten rules, but a fastball to the head is a clear violation of them — for good reason.

When Hoskins got to face Rhame again on Wednesday night, this time with the Phillies leading, this happened:

Hoskins took more than 34 seconds to round the bases after his towering homer, and looked like delighted in every moment of it. And why not? Dude watched his life flash before his eyes twice on Tuesday, and presumably when that happens, you think, “man, I really need to enjoy every home run.”

MLB’s Statcast tracked the trot as the slowest since the technology was incorporated into MLB stadiums in 2015. But before the “Statcast Era,” baseball writer Larry Granillo maintained the Tater Trot Tracker starting in 2010, and he never measured a trot slower than David Ortiz’s 33.39 seconds in 2014. Hoskins’ might feasibly be the slowest home-run trot in decades.

The blast was Hoskins’ seventh of the season, and the win drew the Phillies even with the Mets atop the NL East.