We have asked how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. We have asked how many Jose Altuves tall Aaron Judge is. Now, we ask how many Chandler Simpson bunt singles you can fit into a Junior Caminero home run trot.
In the Rays’ American League Championship Series-clinching win on Monday, Simpson and Caminero each put together an impactful play to help their team to victory. And they couldn’t have been more different.
Simpson, one of the fastest players in baseball, laid down a perfect third-inning bunt that extended the frame and eventually led to a run-scoring sacrifice fly. He reached a maximum sprint speed of 31.4 mph during a lightning-quick 3.78-second trip to first base.
Caminero, meanwhile, pulled a two-run home run off the left-field foul pole in the seventh inning, providing the Rays some critical insurance in the late stages. On brand for one of MLB’s most exciting players, Caminero thoroughly enjoyed the moment. He took 13.23 seconds(!) to get to first base and 38.66 seconds total to make it back to home plate.
So, we ask again: How many Simpson bunt singles can you fit into a Caminero home run trot? Just over 10 of them, it turns out, including 3.5 in the time it took Caminero to reach first base.
Is this ridiculous? Yep. Is it hilarious? Also yep. And fortunately, Rob Friedman -- aka the Pitching Ninja -- has given us a visual aid for this experiment, splicing the two plays together in a now-viral video.
An exuberant jaunt around the diamond is nothing new for Caminero. This 38.66-second trek was the second slowest under Statcast tracking (2015), behind only his own 40.65-second lap in September. They both might pale in comparison to the performance he gave after hitting a walk-off home run to win the Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League (LIDOM) in January 2025.
And as we said, Simpson is among MLB’s fastest players. He recorded the fastest average time from home to first this season -- 3.96 seconds -- and a 29.4 foot-per-second average sprint speed, which ranked in the 95th percentile across MLB.
There’s a great chance we’ll see more of these ballplayers showing off their unique styles when the World Series kicks off on Friday.