Baseball AcademicsBUNTING
BY RICHARD PACE
Bunting has become a lost art in the game of baseball. Players today are so caught up in hitting the ball out of the ballpark they neglect the importance of bunting. Even in batting practice, you see hitters investing a small fraction of time practicing bunts; they forget, or worse don’t care enough to hone their bunting skills. I have witnessed the result of this lack of effort many times. When the time comes for the bunt, to sacrifice a runner over, or squeeze him home, or beat out a bunt to start a rally, those who neglect to practice fail miserably, disgracing themselves, often contributing to a team’s defeat.
KEEP THEM GUESSING
Smart players value the bunt for more than just the occasional base hit or, if the situation calls for it, pushing a base runner over. Other than those obvious reasons, often overlooked is how the “possible” bunt causes the third baseman or first baseman to cheat in at the corners, thereby taking them out of position when cheating in… Their range and reaction time is substantially compromised. The threat of the bunt increases your chances of slapping the ball past either the third or first baseman.
