The Art of Bunting

Is this ever taught anymore? Do not confuse this with bunting practice.

I rarely ever see a good bunter at any level. You would think that all of the hitting techniques that are taught ( Rotational, Linear, Charlie Lau hitting, Doyle hitting, etc., etc...),half the stuff I don't understand, why can't a kid be taught to sacrifice bunt.

One of the coolest things I saw last year was a coach give the bunt sign to a hitter with two strikes because he made a half hearted attempt on those strikes.

 

could it be that kids just don't want to sacrifice? in the last few years when i was cocahing some litle league ball i made it plain that we were sacrificing this out to move the runner. the batter loses nothing by doing it batting averagewise but he goes up in the respect of his teammates. imo most kids just try to bunt for a hit instead of sacrificing themselves.

 

great subject

more like the lost art of bunting. i witnessed several games lost becuase of poor attempts at sacrificing. it's kind of like kids and coaches these days do not see the importance of teaching/playing small ball. imo it can be the most important aspect of big games with big pitchers on the hill.

 

Since when did it matter what the hell the kid wanted. The coach is the coach and if he wants a bunt, he better get a bunt. I have heard stories from old coaches about kicking a kid off a team after kid hit a homerun while ignoring a bunt sign.

 

Bunting is 10 times easier then hitting. Your sticking the bat out watching the ball hit the bat. Its not hard but kids think its a waste of time to work on bunting. The ones that are fast dont relize that they could get on base everytime by doing so. They all wanna hit the homerun or hit that line drive in the gap. If you stress to players that bunting is a good thing to work on and do it in games then they may take it alittle more serious.

 

I coached an All-Star team the summer of 2005 of 15 and 16 year olds and we as a coaching staff made it a point that we were going to bunt and run/steal bases. The number 2 hitter knew his role everytime the leadoff guy got on. He knew that he was either going to bunt him to second or bunt him to third if he stole second. The kids loved bunting and we made games out of bunting everyday in practice...they owed push ups for every bunt back to the pitcher and every sacrifice that went foul. Then after the kids bought into the bunting aspect we would let them hit and we ended up scroing around 10 runs a game. That team won the State Senior League Title and was the Semi-finalist in the Southern regional.....It's amazing how many teams could not defend the sacrifice bunt, so we would bunt sometimes several times in a row and just score runs off of that

 

Bunting.....

It's a lost art, watch the pros. Most of them can't even lay down a good sacrifice. I don't think it is the fault of players, coaches, but rather circumstance.

You start in little league, your better hitters bat 1-4, you don't want them to bunt, because you know past them, chances of scoring runs slim down. Bottom of the order, you show them how to bunt and work on it and moms and dads get mad because all their child ever does is bunt. Why don't they get to hit? So, eventually coaches let them hit and forgo bunting. I never coached in LL, but my child went from a bottom bunter (9yrs old)to a 3 hole hitter (10 yrs old). I saw both sides. (Luckily he learned to bunt being a bottom guy)

This trend continues up until high school and then coaches wonder why certain kids can't bunt. I always like working on bunting with my own child because I thought it helped his hitting. A good bunter watches the ball all the way to the bat through contact, if you can do it with a bunt, the same concept applies with hitting, head down, eyes on ball through contact.

I think it follows in college, good college bunters were probably lead off men in high school and used the bunt effectively. Adequate bunters were probably 2 hole or 7 hole hitters. Terrible bunters probably were 3-4-5 hitters and pretty much cage bunters. Colleges work on it, but it is just like anything else, cage bunting is easy, but on the field, miss that fastball strike one, and then try and bunt a hammer or 2 and a change up. How much live bunting are you gonna work on with your production guys. They are up there to drive runs in.

I might be totally off in my assumptions, but just an idea.

 

You Can't Bunt Your Way Off the Island

I agree wholeheartedly with all the posts. A lost art indeed and underutilized at almost every level.

However, there's a saying in the Dominican Republic.......................

"You Can't Bunt Your Way Off the Island!"

 

Our coach does it probably every other game. They better get it down or they'll be heading back to the dugout with a K. And we all know how sensitive kids are about stats.

 

amen...
i always spent several rounds of BP just on bunting.. with broom stick and wiffle golf balls...

I was taught not to let the bat hit the ball .. but to pretend the bat was a glove.. play catch with the ball.. usually got a perfect bunt....