Strategy question? Bunting?

[PhatMack19]

I was watching the highlights of the Twins-Tigers game from yesterday and it got me thinking.  The Twins had a chance to tie for the division lead with 5 games to play.  9th inning runner on 3rd- Twins attempt Squeeze only to pop it up into a double play.

Is the squeeze worth the risk??  Pefectly executed it is unstoppable, but mess it up your rally is over.  In the games I have seen over the last few years, I would say the success rate is way below 50%. I've seen a lot more missed attempts and pop ups than successfull bunts.

It seems that bunting in general is a lost art.  I had a select coach tell me one time, "the parents don't pay me to teach bunting."  Is that the problem?  Is it not taught at a young age?  Every parent wants their kid to be a homerun hitter, but being able to handle the bat can lead to just as many wins as longballs.

Any thoughts?                  Oh yeah,  Is it baseball season yet???

[carthagebaseball]

In my opinion and from what I have witnessed it is much harder to bunt good pitching than it is to hit it.

[PhatMack19]

In my opinion and from what I have witnessed it is much harder to bunt good pitching than it is to hit it.

I disagree with that.  A really good bunter gets it down 9 out of 10 times or more. Maybe ya'll have some guys at Carthage hitting .900, if so 3a better watch out.

[longhorn/26]

It's just a matter of execution.  There's no more risk involved with a squeeze than there is with a hit and run.  The ball still has to be put in play on the ground.

[carthagebaseball]

You need to shave about 600 points off that .900 Carthage batting average. Our overall team batting averege last year was .305. Most teams we faced had averages 50 - 75 points higher than we had.

But again, what I have seen through pure repitition,players hit much more in practice than they practice bunting.  Against good pitching it seems we are more likely to put the ball in play by swinging the bat than we are bunting the ball. Also certain slots in the lineup are our bunting slots. These players bunt  much more in practice than our 3-6 hitters do.

 Still for me it gets back to one thing and that is,it is very hard to bunt a good pitcher. Add to this if that pitcher can field his position its that much tougher.

 It is a lost art!

[adminbaberuth]

In my opinion and from what I have witnessed it is much harder to bunt good pitching than it is to hit it.

that's a good point.

but why can't high school kids bunt high school pitching?

[carthagebaseball]

8 hour rule???

[PhatMack19]

I guess I don't know about the 8 hour rule.

[adminbaberuth]

8 hour rule???

8 hours not much practice time per week, plus you don't bunt on weekends at a select tournament and at Sr Babe Ruth we don't have signals, we expect the kids to know the suitation, they never bunt.

[PhatMack19]

Bunting should be taught WAY before high school.  If you learn to handle the bat at an early age, it carries over throughout your high school career.

[643]

It's amazing to me how many pro players can NOT bunt, most college teams can and will bunt 1-9. There are a few local HS teams that play % ball and will bunt when the situtation dictates afterall its baseball 101....BTW there is a huge diff in the execution of a bunt for a basehit and a sacrifice, some just don't get it...

[MrUmp1]

I would think it may have to do with who was at bat. One thing that I always hear from the announcers is that the visitors should play for the tie while the home team plays for the win. Twins at Tigers I think that is why they bunted.

[carthagebaseball]

It's opposite.

The visitors play for the win, and the home team for the tie.

The reasoning is because if the visitor plays for the tie, and score to tie the game, but then the home team scores in the bottom of the 9th, the visitors never get a chance to hit again, and they get beat.

[MrUmp1]

Now you see why i am an Ump and not a coach lol I get it backwards

[Guest Silsbee88]

8 hour rule???

8 hours not much practice time per week, plus you don't bunt on weekends at a select tournament and at Sr Babe Ruth we don't have signals, we expect the kids to know the suitation, they never bunt.

The 8 hours rule is for coaching only, every solid fundamental player knows that this is just for team drill and it takes a whole lot more individual work in the cage to be successful.  This is a game of failure, the team with the least failure will win.  Usually if you look the ones with best plate appearances spent countless hours working on fundamentals in the cage......this means bunting as well.

[wizdiz]

I know that Jasper works on bunting alot at the Soph. and JV levels almost everyday.

[bkatdog]

  Sometimes the best power hitters are also the best bunters on the team aren't they Wiz.

[hitman009]

I feel the safety squeeze  is better.  2 tries to get down a good bunt, then 2 strike swing if you can't get it down.

[wizdiz]

[quote name="bkatdog" post="674314" timestamp="1255477298"]
  Sometimes the best power hitters are also the best bunters on the team aren't they Wiz.
[/quote]
Yep and we have had a few that could do both. Just some ran a little better than others. lol

[78Stang]

Bunting the baseball is one of the major problems and frustrations that I have run across while coaching baseball for many years in Little League and High School. I have always told my players and still believe that Bunting a baseball is the easiest thing that there is to do in the game of baseball. Think about it, feilding a ball, throwing a ball to a small target, trying to hit a ball traveling at 70-90 M.P.H. in a mini-second is much harder than sticking your bat out and letting the ball hit it. I think it does take practice to be really good at it but I also feel that if you can not stick a bat out and watch a ball hit it then you probably will not be a good hitter either. Too many coaches hurt the players and team by over-coaching bunting style and and make it more complicated and harder than it really is.

[Geaux25]

If you look at the state of the game of baseball right now, you will find it's not only bunting that kids struggle with...it's every 'small' facet of the game.

This has been well documented by guys like Joe Morgan and Steve Phillips.

Pick any random high school baseball player today and ask him what he wants to do at baseball practice. I would guess 95% would say hit. Along those same lines, there is a high amount of 'hitting' coaches in this area, but how many defensive coaches? Bunting coaches? Baserunning coaches? All these are vastly important parts to every game, yet are not as glorified as hitting so they take a back seat to it.

I, myself, may be adding to this problem as a 'hitting' coach because I don't teach bunting. I wish I could, but I doubt the parent is handing me money so there kid can go 0-0 with three sac bunts in a game. Now, that wouldn't bother me at all, but Johnny's mom isn't paying me to get him to do that.

People forget how important the little things are, especially in baseball. Trust me, I know this...from experience. Last year, I played on a team that set a school record for batting average in a season. We were phenomenal at the plate.

However, our fielding percentage was below .970 and our team ERA was one of the worst in the nation.

Result?

14 games below .500...

High school baseball games just aren't the same anymore. When more of an emphasis is put on the little things (defense, bunting, hitting cut-off men, going 1st to 3rd, dirt ball reads, etc) then we will see better high school baseball.

In my opinion, of course.

[Gametime23]

What ir required with bunting and hitting since now they r not one lol? Hand eye coordination!!!! Bunting is key to baseball and winning. I played hs and college ball and it made me a threat I hit .350+ through college baseball and the ability to bunt opened holes and kept my eye on the ball. When ppl say bunting is harder than hitting, why do pro pitchers bunt and not hit? When u want a kid oor team to start seeing the ball better bunt in hs alone bunting made my avg go up .050+ points. This is a lost art due to the hr era. Yeah the hr is nice but I believe 2-3 years ago the Rangers lead the majors in hr's but were like the 2nd or 3rd worst team in the league. I coach hs baseball and we bunt everyday. Are we the best hitters, no, but we put the ball in play and make ppl make mistakes. Also when u get in the 7th we will bunt to win. Small ball, defense and pitching makes an average team great. Bunting should be taught early, but alot of little league coaches don't know proper fundamentals(sorry guys). U have mom and dad saying level swing(wrong), push off the rubber(wrong), swing hard(wrong). So in hs u work 4 yrs to break 9 yrs of bad habits. Teach ur kid to bunt correctly and he will become a better ball player and increase the hand eye coordination. If ur kid is struggling take him and make him bunt b4 swinging. I bunted everytime I ever got in a cage b4 swinging and u say why. It one get my eyes focused and two got timing down. I took out 2 barriers that hurt hitters, so I was 2 steps ahead of the kid that got in just hacking.