I wish people would actually learn how to bunt properly. So many times when you get into the playoffs and you need to advance a runner teams can't lay down a simple bunt.

Has anyone ever seen how Rod Carew could handle a bat. A great lost art that sadly is being neglected.

I wish people would actually learn how to bunt properly. So many times when you get into the playoffs and you need to advance a runner teams can't lay down a simple bunt.

Has anyone ever seen how Rod Carew could handle a bat. A great lost art that sadly is being neglected.

Bunting is almost always a negative play. It doesn't hurt to know how, but I don't want to see teams do it more.

So a player with the speed of Byron Buxton should never think about laying down a bunt? With a little work with his speed and ability to steal a base it's wonderful. I am not saying he should bunt every game but it's a way to open open holes in the defense as well.

So a player with the speed of Byron Buxton should never think about laying down a bunt? With a little work with his speed and ability to steal a base it's wonderful. I am not saying he should bunt every game but it's a way to open open holes in the defense as well.

I would have it in the toolbox, but not make it a focal point. 

Bunting is cool and always will be. The focus should be on the alarming amount of strikeouts in today's game.

I think the bunt is still a viable tool for someone like Byron Buxton or Eddie Rosario to use (once in a while.) I remember seeing Kent Hrbek bunting for hits in his first year or two. I loved the surprise element. But I agree that the modern player doesn't get enough training in how to actually perform a good bunt. And with the state of free agency one would think it might benefit a player moving from one league to the other.

I think Brandon's point is that it is the sacrifice bunt that is a negative play. The statistics show that over and over again.

Bunting for a hit is an exciting play. I like those as much as anyone.

actually stats show bunting is a negative play on a macro level. on a micro level, i guarentee there are times it makes sense to bunt.

I think the number of Twins bunts is indicative of the managers seeming disregard for the inning, his starting pitcher, the opponent and at times the name of the bunter. Molitor often used small ball early in games, while wielding a fairly power laden team, with a very very average pitching staff. I know if I am the opposition, and you want to bunt away crooked number innings early in the game, just show me where you want that pitch layed in there. I will gladly give up that one run in the third inning.

As much as I hated how Militor often chose to bunt, I like it a lot in the right spots. There is no excuse for a major league batter, every one of them, to not be able to lay down a bunt successfully 75 - 80% of the time. With the excessive shifts these days, a good bunt should be an automatic base, at utilized to break the shift. 

Do the stats used here include attempted bunts? Like bunts attempted and fouled off twice and then the batter proceeded to hit away to finish the at bat? The Twins had so many failed bunt attempts.........

To bunt or not to bunt, that is the question. 

I think Brandon's point is that it is the sacrifice bunt that is a negative play. The statistics show that over and over again.

 

Bunting for a hit is an exciting play. I like those as much as anyone.

I think this gets tricky.  The average regular at-bat is a "negative play", depending on how you define negative play.

I've seen the charts that show you're worse off with 1 out -2- than 0 out 1-- and in general I agree with them.  I just wonder if some of the advanced analytics (as in analytics that MLB teams pay for, not stuff we see) show that the bunt is the best possible play for a given batter against a given pitcher, given EV.  I'm not sold they have it, but with all the statistics and being able to crunch big data, maybe they really do know more than we think they do.  A sacrifice bunt is objectively better than a strikeout.  I'm guessing a lot of these calls are much closer to even than we think they are.

I do agree that there are WAY too many botched bunts.

The sacrifice is a good move so very rarely, that I most always consider it a negative play.

This is not to bust on the manager. (Or maybe it is a little bit.) I sometimes fear that bunting makes the manager feel like he's doing something to impact the game.

Choosing to bunt seems more proactive than waiting for one of those guys to swing and hit the ball.

To those who seek to sacrifice bunt, I say; "God gave you that big stick. Whack the ball!"