Sac Bunt/Hit & Run

It is largely dependent on the situation and the level of play being discussed. At the Major League level, consensus from analysts indicates that both plays are generally overused.

Passion,

There is no right or wrong answer and no one way is better than the other, because so much depends on the ENTIRE situation. Do you have players who are capable of getting the bunt down? Do you have players behind him capable of driving in the run? Are your players on the bases dragging anchors? Is the defense above average? What’s the inning? What’s the score? …

The lower the level, the greater the chance not only moving the runner(s) up on a bunt, but the batter reaching safely as well. We have a very good HS program with a veteran coach who loves to put pressure on defenses in every way. He’ll have runners taking big leads to draw throws, batters taking extra bases forcing the defense to make great throws, stealing bases, hit and run, run and hit, push bunt, drag bunt, but not very often sac bunt. He teaches the batters to bunt for hits, except for the rare occasion where its absolutely necessary to get that one run, and then usually only of the batter is a weak hitter. The result is, last year we had 22 bunt hits and 24 sac bunts, with 6 of those reaching on errors.

Since I don’t keep track of hit and runs I can’t say how successful they are, but I seriously doubt its as successful a strategy overall as the bunting game.

I have only coached at 14u and below, so I'm not expert at all in HS and above, but I am not crazy about the hit-and-run play because the better youth hitters  - exactly the ones you would call the play for -  are also the kids who have learned to hit the ball up the middle, which is usually rewarded with an out if the hit-and-run is on. Asking them to not only hit the ball without fail, but push it to one side of the field, is a tall order.

As for the sac, from what I have seen of college and HS ball in the dead bat BBCOR era, it's a huge part of the game and every  kid in the line up should be able to get a bunt down when asked to. 

At younger levels, you have to use it in some situations especially against top pitchers, but the live BPF bats turn most games between good teams into slugfests.

In the majority of situations where the players are age 14 and older, I would practice and use the "run and hit". Against the Australian STATE and National players the players are

taught fundamental baseball by former professional players.

This means the infielders do not "showcase" by backing a ball in front of them, they field with their left ear. The "run and hit" will move the defense creating holes and the batter will only swing if it is a strike. You run on non-pitch out counts.

The Japanese National team will always steal on a 3-1 count.

Bob

 Early in the game I would play for the big inning. If you think its gonna be a pitchers duel then the sac bunt becomes more appealing. You have to remember anytime you play for a run, then one run may be all you get. I also use the hit and run more in the bottom of the order to manufacture a run, and possibly a big inning.The hit and run is great for getting a runner with average speed from 1st to 3rd.

Originally Posted by Consultant:

In the majority of situations where the players are age 14 and older, I would practice and use the "run and hit". Against the Australian STATE and National players the players are

taught fundamental baseball by former professional players.

This means the infielders do not "showcase" by backing a ball in front of them, they field with their left ear. The "run and hit" will move the defense creating holes and the batter will only swing if it is a strike. You run on non-pitch out counts.

The Japanese National team will always steal on a 3-1 count.

If all ball at over 14 were on the level of Team USA, Japan, or Australia. I’d go along with using the run and hit, but only a very small segment of that population plays well enough to be able to use it very well.

Are you saying the Japanese Nation team ALWAYS steals on every 3-1 count no matter what the situation or the opposition? Seems like a pretty stupid philosophy to tell the opponent what you’re going to do every single time a situation comes up, not to mention having every player do it no matter what their foot speed or base running ability.

My opinion, based on what I've seen the past 2 or 3 years (my son is a HS junior) is that I'd go with the hit and run because it just seems that there aren't more than a handful of kids capable of putting down a bunt when you ask them to.  I have seen more bunts popped up to the pitcher or catcher or fouled off in the past 2 years than I can believe.....by kids on some very good (HS final four and top level travel) teams.   It's not hard....but it does require work.  It also requires a kid who is willing to "take one for the team".  Bunting is an art....and needs to be worked on ALOT for a player to become good at it.  If a coach isn't using the bunt alot, it's likely because he doesn't feel that he has kids who are capable of putting the bunt where it needs to be in a particular situation.

The Japan coaches study every motion on the opposing pitcher to determine the "pick off" move. The hitter is swinging, if the pitch is a strike.

Are you going to "pitch out"?????

Bob

I think it depends on the philosophy of the program and what is practiced.  We are a big Hit & Run team and we do a lot of bunting as well.  My players are drilled over and over starting in September on both of these thing and we are proficient in both areas.  We Sacced bunted at a 91% rate last year and we were succesful on Hit and runs 86% of the time as well.  We have not had a runner thrown out on a hit and run in two years.  If your program works these things non stop then they should be succesful and it should benefit your program.  If it is not worked on and it is just expected of them then I do not see it being to helpful.