Despite a dozen reads, no one has taken the challenge of the speed test (except perhaps for some drug dealers). Skip this is you still want to take the test, but in the interest of not having to remember the results forever, here are the answers:
1. Who is the fastest player in baseball? Byron Buxton, who has run 30.2 feet in a second. Billy Hamilton is right behind him at 30.1 feet per second. Buxton is said to have run to first base in 3.4 seconds, although unless he did so on a bunt with a head start, I find that hard to believe. Still, at his fastest speed, he's running at a sub-10.0 second 100 yard dash, which in baseball shoes is highly impressive.
2. Who is the fastest Giant? That would be Gorkys Hernandez, whose best is 28.6 feet per second, good enough for #47 in the majors.
3. Among the usual starters, who is the Giants' fastest infielder? Joe Panik, who has run 27.2 feet per second.
4. True or false: Buster Posey is faster than Pablo Sandoval. True. Both are very slow, but Buster has run 25.6 feet per second, while Pablo stands at 25.4 feet.
5. True or false: Brandon Crawford is faster than Brandon Belt. False. This is a surprise, but Belt has run 26.7 feet in a second this season, while Crawford's best is 26.4 feet.
6. True or false: Denard Span is faster than Austin Slater. False. Denard is fast at 27.9 feet per second, but Austin has been faster at 28.2 feet.
7. True or false: Kelby Tomlinson is faster than Jarrett Parker. False. They have both been timed at 27.4 feet per second, but without rounding, Jarrett is just slightly ahead.
8. True or false: Christian Arroyo is faster than Brandon Crawford. True. While Christian doesn't look that fast, his 27.1 feet per second easily outpaces Brandon's 26.4 feet.
9. True or false: The Dodgers' first baseman is faster than the Giants' right fielder. False. Cody Bellinger's 28.5 feet per second is highly impressive for a first baseman, but while Hunter is also at 28.5 feet, unrounded, he's just a touch faster.
10.True or false: Eduardo Nunez is faster than any present Giant. False. Eduardo certainly steals far more bases than any present Giant, but his 27.8 feet is well behind both Hernandez and Pence.
11.True or false: Nunez is the fastest ex-Giant. False. Rajai Davis at 29.3 feet per second still ranks #11, a foot and a half ahead of Nunez's 27.8 feet.
12.True or false: Ryder Jones is faster than Joe Panik. True. Ryder's 27.4 feet per second just edges Joe's 27.2 feet.
What I found most surprising was that Eduardo Nunez isn't close to the league's top speedsters. And that Brandon Crawford has below-average speed, ranking only #333 out of the 444 players ranked. Brandon is more or less halfway between Christian Arroyo and Buster Posey. I think Brandon's gracefulness makes him appear faster than he is.
Scoring:
Expert -- 10 or more
Highly knowledgeable -- 9
Knowledgeable -- 8
Solid fan -- 7
More than just a casual fan -- 6
Casual fan -- 4 to 5
Not a good guesser -- 2 to 3
Still alive (Hopefully) -- 1
Maybe not -- 0
How did we fare here? Any experts? Anyone at the knowledgeable level? Even the solid fan level is pretty tough to achieve. Most of us should have hit the level of solid fan or at least more than just a casual fan though.
Read more:
sfgiantsmessageboard.proboards.com/thread/4074/speed#ixzz4soxDZ8Z5