BUNT
Baseball’s “BAD” four letter Word
Part II of II - Not Practiced, Mind Set and Lack of Strategy
“When I came up, you couldn't play if you couldn't bunt, but home runs have
pretty much taken over the game today. You have to hit at least 25 homers
to be a hero today. The game has changed so much. People want to see
homers. Look around the league… Bunting has become a lost art. They want
people who can put the ball over the fence.” Kirby Puckett HOF 2001
Not Practiced Enough or Correctly
Bunting is a learnable skill, but it’s not a VALUED skill for most, therefore not
necessarily practiced the way it should be. It’s pretty simple. With any skill, the more
you practice that particular skill the better and more confident you become
successfully performing that skill. Bunting is no different. Teams will say they practice
bunting but actions speak louder than words. Case in point. Watch most batting
practices, even pre-game. What you see during BP, if they do bunt, is the batter
turns and puts down a couple bunts arbitrarily. Mostly, everyone just swings away.
That’s like going to the driving range and only hitting the golf ball with your driver.
Practice time is devoted to the areas in which a player can most help the team.
Bunting helps the team. If you don’t practice bunting seriously with everyone at every
practice then your players will probably not be able to execute it during the game. Yet
just practicing bunting isn’t enough. Most situations that call for a bunt are high
intense situations. So you have to take it a step further - practice bunting under
intensity. If you don’t practice bunting under game like conditions with high energy
and intensity you will probably not be able to bunt during the game.
With good hitters, especially good power hitters, managers don't feel time spent
practicing bunting is cost effective which is a mistake. Example: Hall of Famer Dave
Winfield power hitter. He is 34th on the All Time HR Leaders (465 home runs), 12time All-Star selection, Member of the 3,000 Hit Club (3110 hits) and listed 17th on
Career Leaders & Records for RBI (1,833 RBI).
In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 3 of the 1992 World Series, Dave Winfield
of the Blue Jays laid down a bunt that moved the runners to second and third with
one out. The Braves were forced to walk the next batter to set up a force play,
resulting in the next batter (Candy Maldonado) hitting a fly ball to win the game. The