bunting

Very important. HS and College. Did you see the college world series last year? Bunt played big part. "If you can't bunt you can't play" is our motto. We have won so many games playing small ball.

TPM, we are major advocates of the bunt. It is such a powerful weapon. We have identified teams on our schedule that don't practice bunt defense and we know exactly what we need to do to beat them. We also thing that there is a place for both the safety and suicide squeezes. We use both.

Bunting for a hit is becoming a lost art. We might have encountered 2 players last year that attempted to bunt for a hit. We actually have a play where we have decided that we won't stop at first and pulled that off 2 times last year. Runner on second, bunt for a hit (our hitter had a sprained thumb that just wouldn't heal) and we went to second. Fielder threw to 1st, we went to second, they threw to second, our runner went home, they threw home, we were safe at second. I love the bunt.

Learn how to bunt.

Then learn how to run down the first base line like a wild dog.

IMO.

It cant hurt.

Bunting is a lost art. Unfortunately, not too many can still teach the fundamentals of bunting.

This is where the "old dawgs" step in

tiger paw mom,
i know at your college it plays a big and important part of the game. especially late in the game and down in the batting order.

We bunted 3 staight times in a second round play-off game last year to win it in the 12th. I feel most teams here are used to winning because they play more of a station to station power type game. They can put a couple of hard throwing pitchers on the bump and some gorillas at the plate. We can't do that. So, if you do it like everyone else, you have to do it better than everyone.....or do it different. We chose to do it different. It has allowed us to be sucessful with lesser talent at times.

TP Mom:

I watched ASU play their series this weekend against Cal State Northridge. Both teams used the bunt a great deal. ASU had there 3 and 4 hitters bunting on several occasions. It is an underpracticed skill at the youth level so some HS programs don't use it as much as they should.

The bunt is a lost art. I am always amazed at how ugly bunt attempts are at high level baseball.
There are times when a bunt is the only option.

quote:

I am always amazed at how ugly bunt attempts are at high level baseball

agree even some good bunters can look ugly, but they are often trying to lay down a
"nasty pitch", not knowing if they're going to see a 93 mph fb under their chin
or on their hands

.

Catamount,
You are correct, it is important part of CU's game plan. I heard coach say that it is practiced over and over and over, alot more than many other schools. Obvious it is a skill that is important.

So I was curious how HS or select team coaches felt about it and why it is not practiced as often is HS. I woud think a player that is good at bunting would have an advantage when being recruited? Do college recruiters lok for this skill?

I never really paid much attention to it all, having a pitcher, until he went to college.

Bunting had been almost a lost art for a few years but is making a comeback.

I dont have to tell anyone here how important it is.

Also, from a coaching perspective, assuming everything else is equal, the kid who can bunt, both for a base hit and sacrifice, will be in the lineup everyday. It just opens up more opportunity, both for the team and the individual player.

Plus it cant hurt the batting average when you get 1-2 bunt base hits per week. That can instantly add 50 points to a BA.

Just make sure the bunting is done with a meaning and a purpose. I see far too much bunting where players are going though th emotions and then they are suprised when they get into a game they have trouble laying it down.

TPM, it does not appear to me that scouts truly place much importance on it.

Most coaches are infatuated with the long from hitters (and velocity from pitchers).

Yet how many times in the playoffs last fall did a team get hurt in a game because a batter couldn't lay a bunt down?

We would start the season with what we called progressive Bp. The hitters had to complete sac, squeeze and bunt for a hit several times and good placement as well before they could move on to hittng. Then at the start of every Bp we have a series of bunts that are always performed. We not only practice it, but we expect every hitter to be able to do it in a game and we have bunted successfully often.

TigerPawMom-
We work on it every single night in practice. I see it as a very important skill - we use the bunt as a weapon, not simply a sacrifice (although we do that too).
I think the key to bunting well is the mindset of the players. I've found very few kids that CAN'T bunt...most that don't bunt well struggle because they don't WANT to bunt and therefore give a half-hearted effort.

Bunting is a huge part of our game plan. It has directly led to a couple of conference championships in the past two years for us. We feel that it helps to put pressure on the defense and opens up some hitting lanes for us. Many teams get rattled and cannot properly handle a bunt defensively because they do not see it as much. Two summers ago, on a local radio show, a successful local high school hitting coach stated that they do not believe in bunting at high school and he wished it would be taken out of the high school game. This prompted an immediate call from me which I am not sure the station appreciated since I was disagreeing with their special guest.

Bunting is one of the most important facets of our game in HS and in summer ball. I also see it a lot in college and was at the MAAC Championships last May and truely belive Manhattan lost because they could not move runners. It's a shame that bunting is such a huge part of the big programs and then gets forgotten at the MLB ranks...

I agree that bunting is a lost art and I am glad that it is still alive in RR23JR's HS. I appreciate any input regarding the technique.


1st Sac Bunt as Varsity was almost a HIT

we bunt the ball well..my kids understand it..I preach that we are the Masters of the safety squeeze..They buy in. I have a kid who is a below avg. hitter with a .389 avg against really good 5A competition..He has 9 bunt hits already this season..its huge in hs.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanrod23:
I agree that bunting is a lost art and I am glad that it is still alive in RR23JR's HS. I appreciate any input regarding the technique.


1st Sac Bunt as Varsity was almost a HIT

Bunt the ball. I was taught it at an early age and I teach it at the earliest age. Bunted twice in my life, both walk off squeezes in HS, as a Fr and Jr.,
I hit in the 4,5,6 spots and didn't get called on too often.
Don't think I can come close to claiming "batting a thou." in any other category, seems pretty easy.

One of my favorite drills for squeeze's, the batter is faced with 12-14 of his screaming teammates barreling in on him, jumping waving, throwing gloves, not at him of course.
The guys hated my ole method, get one down, I'd tell em, "nice one, but I think you got lucky, another one", two good ones in a row, "outta be even easier the 3rd."

Just last fall, I'm out on the golf course with a buddy, it's a par 3, I've a 7 iron, he's probably got the same we're waiting on the T box. He's screwing around, chips one about 30' in front of the T-box, I say "that's one", he gets cocky and is gonna chip it at me. Blades a scorcher at me, coming right between my eyes, I get my club up, my head back outta the way, the world slows down, I "caught it" about mid way beteen the grip and the club head, I lay down a beauty about 3' in front of me, switch to my "caddy shack attack" take a big ole swing and of course miss (yes on purpose), but as he's diving for cover, apologizing, asking if I'm okay etc. I ask him, that all ya got? And, that's 2.
Point is, I just bunted a golf ball with a golf club, and it was easy.

I'm thinking I can get a ping pong ball down with chopstick.

IMO. It's the easiest thing in BB.
Old school for me though. I like no blown attempts, foul is tolerable, but no pop ups, missed strikes (less I'm telling em too), nor one hoppers back to F1.

Sac, your squaring up (not to soon) bat level, right on top of the zone, if you gotta go up it ain't a strike, eyes nearly half way between the lead hand and the knob, get out there so you see it. catch the ball. Aim it with your knob hand.

The 45* technique, hate it, never liked it, think it stinks, that was the true beginning of the end for the sac bunt.
I like it if you can do it, otherwise my sac, your squaring up.
You wanna learn the 45* technique fine, but keep the same basics: stay down, get behind and on top of the bat, less movement the better, if you gotta move, do, but be smooth, don't poke at the dang thing. Get the bat where the ball is gonna be.

quote:

Originally posted by TPM:
So I was curious how HS or select team coaches felt about it and why it is not practiced as often is HS.

My teams worked on this religiously from ages 8-14...drag, push, sac, squeeze, slash. From 8-12, I only bunted 2x (both squeezes) during games because I wanted to teach my kids to hit based on the situation. Now that we are 16, we use the bunt during most wood bat games. They can all handle the bat and we bunt pretty darn well.

Bunting is a skill that is easily acquired, IMO, so most college coaches don't look for good bunters. If you mash, you will rarely bunt. If you are an OK hitter or below, you better know how to bunt and move runners.

everything being equal RH batter do you like the push or down the 3B foul line and why.
which is the more sucessful?

Tried something different the other day....Had the varsity scrimmage the jv. The varsity was allowed to only bunt or slash.

Some interesting things came about:
JV guys became aware in a hurry of all of the situations that can arise from bunting and the varsity guys really started looking for ways to advance to the next bag in order to get in a position to score. Also some of the big hitters that normally never bunt in game situations became aware of the pressure some of the other guys face by having to get bunts down.

quote:

Originally posted by cball:
everything being equal RH batter do you like the push or down the 3B foul line and why.
which is the more sucessful?

It depends on what you are trying to accomplish and the situation.

Bunting for basehit? Moving runners? Where are the runners? LHP or RHP? Athletic or not? etc. etc.

The bunt is a great weapon if you know how to use it

I think I have related this story before but it is worth relating again here--a few years back we were in a game in which we needed to win to have hope for moving on--we had a 6ft 10 inch # 4 hitter who was either homer or K but he homered enough to make him solid in that spot---the last inning in this game we are down 1-0 in the bottom of the 7th--no out and men on first and second with the Big Guy set to hit--I asked him " Can you drop a bunt?"--he says " Nobody has ever asked me to but sure I can"---he does--the runners move up and now it is 2nd and 3rd with one out--on top of it all he surprised them so much he nearly beat out the bunt--bottom line--next two pitches were wild piches and we win the game--talk about baseball being a mental game

quote:

Originally posted by redbird5:

quote:

Originally posted by cball:
everything being equal RH batter do you like the push or down the 3B foul line and why.
which is the more sucessful?

It depends on what you are trying to accomplish and the situation.

Bunting for basehit? Moving runners? Where are the runners? LHP or RHP? Athletic or not? etc. etc.

Say for a base hit. no one on.

In the book "Moneyball" they make the case that in MLB the sac is not statistically a postive play with a runner on first no outs. I believe the expected runs per inning with and without a sac bunt would change with lower levels but I'm not sure how.

At lower levels (high school) you generally see higher batting averages and more errors but these have mixed effects on the expected runs per inning with and without a sac. Higher batting averages and more errors would make it pay off more to hit away, but lower level defenses don't turn sac bunts into outs as often as the higher levels do, and this encourages more sac bunts. I'm not really sure what effect is stronger.

Anyone here read "Moneyball" and what it says about the sac bunt? Comments?