5 man Infield Bunt Defense

I can honestly say I've never heard of a 5 man bunt defense. Is it saying the pitcher is the 5th infielder or would you move an OF to the IF?

How does it work?

You move an outfielder to the infield. We are thinking of toying around with this. It would be in a situation where they have to bunt, a situation where they cannot afford to slash. It would only be useful for a pitch. A coach from our tournament this weekend was talking about it. He says he brings in an OF and stands him a few feet from the plate. I was just seeing if anyone else had ever seen or heard of it.

I think I may be missing something. Are you saying you bring an OF closer to the plate than the rest of the IF's and the pitcher.

quote:

Originally posted by coachbyrd:
You move an outfielder to the infield. We are thinking of toying around with this. It would be in a situation where they have to bunt, a situation where they cannot afford to slash. It would only be useful for a pitch. A coach from our tournament this weekend was talking about it. He says he brings in an OF and stands him a few feet from the plate. I was just seeing if anyone else had ever seen or heard of it.

Honestly, I would never do this. Yeah you're going to take the bunt away with the OF a few feet from the plate but if that guy swings away and hits a screamer at the OF he's toast. It would be humanly impossible to protect yourself in that situation.

There's been many times where I thought it was going to be an obvious bunt situation and I was wrong. Just for the safety of a player I wouldn't do this.

What bunt defenses do you run already?

IMO this tactic would be effective more often than not.

I wouldn't do it, ever, regardless. It's bush league.

The definition of bush league is similar to the definition of pornography. You know it when you see it.

Lets say they have a guy on 2B, no outs. They have their number 8 or 9 up. Most guys would try to bunt them over to 3rd. So you put an OF 6 feet away from home plate. You throw the batter outside where they cant pull it if they were to slash. Thats the scenario he described to us. Im not endorsing it either way, just curious about it.

I would change the game plan for the batter, and have him swing away, contact or not, i don't hink that guy will be there the next pitch....i do the same thing to over-charging 3B's that like to run up to within 10ft of the plate

close as we get to this is sometimes with men on base we have both corners and the pitcher fielding bunt, ss/2b cover corner bags, and CF has second base.

If a coach put my son 6 feet from the plate, I would run out and pull him off the field. I have seen 6 infielders before but it is usually the centerfielder playing in front of the bag at second.

I agree, would hate to have a kid that close to the plate. Our centerfielder plays close to normal depth when we do this. We have only done this when we have two corner infielders that do not move very well.

I think it is irresponsible to put an outfielder 6 feet from the plate. That could get a kid killed. Pitchers in the pros do not always hit their spots so to ask the pitcher to pitch a certain area to keep the fielder safe is not very realistic. I would never do this.

I get, I understand it. If I did it I would only do it with runners on 1st & 2nd in a must bunt situation. If you have a runner on 2nd there is nothing that says you have to bunt you could attempt to hit the ball the other way. If I was going to do it I would bring my opposite outfielder in and have him crash in the same manner that I would have the 3rd baseman crash on a wheel play. That way the 3rd baseman could stay put, SS at 2nd base to keep runner close.

In regards to 6 feet away. I agree, if you made my kid do that I would pull him off the field. I mean even my 9 hole hitter could kill a kid 6 feet away.

I agree, we would never put a kid that close to home. The coach who told us about this says he is going to send us some video footage of it this weekend.

Is this bunt defense ever used at elite levels of college baseball?
If not, why not?

Byrd,
If you can upload I would like to see it.

Freddy,
I get what you are saying but in the same token it does not hurt to think our of the box. I mean at one time nobody over shifted at the elite level and then they did it to Ted Williams and now they do it a lot. At one time nobody thought about adding a 5th infielder and I have seen many teams, the Rockies off the top of my head, employ and outfielder to play up the middle with the game on the line. At one time everyone held runners on until Bobby Valentine created the hold without holding. Now I do not agree with the original post because you could get a kid killed. However, I do not think there is any reason not to think out of the box.

quote:

Originally posted by IEBSBL:
. However, I do not think there is any reason not to think out of the box.

IEBSBL,
For some reason this innovation bugs me, but you're right, no harm in thinking out of the box.

lol....The innovation that puts a kid in a firing line also bugs me as well.