Why bunting is bad

But for the most part, the sac bunt has fallen out of favor because teams are too smart to be so dumb. They know that the data says that giving up an out to advance a runner is a very bad idea. The Run Expectation with a runner on first and nobody out is higher than it is when there's a runner on second and one out, the situation usually created by a sac bunt.

The trend holds when discussing Win Expectancies in late-inning situations , which is something that noted sabermetrician Tom Tango tackled back in The win expectancy for a home team trailing by one in the bottom of the ninth is higher with a runner on first and nobody out than it is with a runner on second and one out.

And so on. Maybe you've heard these arguments before, but they're always worth repeating. It's data like this that upholds the age-old sabermetric stance that outs are too precious to give away with sac bunts. It doesn't help that the league has gotten to be particularly bad when it comes to actually converting sac bunts. Here's a look at the success rate of sac bunts since Again, we're not talking about a straight downward trend, but you can see that things started going south in the s and got to be even tougher in the mids.

There's been a spike in successful sacrifice bunts this year, sure, but we're barely a quarter of the way through the season. Based on recent history, it's probably not going to hold. It makes sense that the success rate of the sac bunt would be going down rather than up. Defenders should know how to defend the bunt better now than ever before, and there simply aren't that many offensive players who specialize in bunting anymore. Regardless of what you believe about the proper timing for a bunt in terms of game situations, what we can all shake on is that bunts should always occur early in the count.

A bunt should be put down before a hitter has the count in his favor, otherwise he risks giving up on a potential walk. A bunt should certainly be put down before a hitter has two strikes on him, as a foul bunt means a strikeout and a spot in the skipper's doghouse.

And that's the thing about bunts and today's hitters. They don't like doing much of anything early in counts. Take a look at the rise in the league average for pitches seen per plate appearance since It's fair to conclude that the downfall of the bunt has fed into this trend, as has another trend rhymes with "mikeouts" that we'll be discussing soon.

But the big contributor is the increased emphasis on pitch counts. The bunt that honestly doesn't look that bad, but when it takes you 4. Twenty-seven bunt situations: Eight times a baserunner advanced, including twice when Harvey reached on an error; but somehow 32 outs were made.

The forget-the-bat strategy would have turned out better for Harvey's offenses, particularly if you make the reasonable assumption that a batless hitter would walk every 25 or so at-bats. There's no way around it: This is a very mean post I have written. A lot of attention was dedicated to Matt Harvey's failures. But don't read it that way, but as a compliment aimed at every pitcher who ever successfully lays down a bunt including, sometimes, occasionally, Harvey.

Bunting is hard, and Harvey -- an elite athlete trying his best -- is the unfortunate collateral damage to this point being illustrated. In "Game of Inches," Morris recounts what 19th-century manager Gus Schmelz said when his contemporaries declared the bunt easy.

But it's not that hard to make it look that hard. Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Bunting is hard. Matt Harvey makes it look nearly impossible. Cincinnati Reds. Gausman or Ray? Kershaw or Verlander? Breaking down MLB offseason pitching landscape. San Francisco Giants. Giants extend manager Kapler's deal through ' Dodgers' Heaney: 'Much better' than my '21 stats. Los Angeles Dodgers.

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Sure, guys like Prince Fielder might still manage to get thrown out or collapse on the way to first base! I challenge that Colon bunting towards fielder would be more amusing, though not entirely relevant to the topic at hand. Could cause a gravitational anomaly though. And any collision would trigger seismographs throughout the NYC metro, which could lead to more repercussions…. I suppose it depends on what your definition of light hitting is, no power as in HRs, sure, Kenny Lofton fits the bill.

FG regulars might co-opt the label for poor overall hitters instead…. Will Mike Trout, the perfect ballplayer of the current era, eventually join that list alongside Mantle? Another choice besides bunting would just be a partial swing. With a whole that wide, even I could hit a dribbler through it if I could hit the ball at all. Payroll Efficiency, by Playoff Odds.

You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous. Do the Rangers play the Mets in ? Fielder bunting towards Colon would be the GIF of the year. Actually, a lot more likely. July 4, 5, and 6 at Citi Field!!!

Going on my calendar right now. Some teams are bunt-heavy and are successful. Sometimes it even makes sense to bunt. But overall, I feel this strategy is grossly misused — particularly in youth baseball.

Let me explain why…. I know there are some good bunting teams and players out there, but I rarely see them. Instead, I see more failed bunt attempts than I can count. A batter comes up with a runner on with no outs, so the coach wants to move him over.

The batter bunts the first pitch. Bunts the second pitch. Then strikes out or has to protect the plate and swings at a bad pitch and results in a weak out. Strikes are valuable. The high pitch is enticing, but they need to lay off. Some kids love the ball in the dirt. When bunting, the batter has a completely different perspective. As a result, I tend to see a high percentage of bunt attempts at pitches that need to be taken.

Some kids simply get into the frame of mind that if they got the bunt signthey need to bunt this pitch. As 10s, it was. That means that the average kid gets on base more than half of the time. The rest of the time will be a combination of strikeouts, flyouts, lineouts, groundouts and popouts.

On Base Percentage will go down as a group as kids get older, the fielding improves and the bases get longer. But probability of getting on base by swinging away will remain quite good.

Something I see far too often is teams having a designated bunter or a player who bunts a lot batting second in the lineup.