Reports out of spring training have speedster Ben Revere working on his bunting with Hall of Famer Rod Carew. If Revere can master the art of the bunt, he could be much more valuable. Any time he is on the bases, he is a threat to move around and score.

 

Thoughts?

That would be great. But I think we heard about Carew working on this with Gomez, Punto, Span, every guy with a set of wheels that has come through Spring Training with the Twins and it didn't do that much.

It was sort of surprising to find out that he did not have this as part of his game. He's got almost zero power and blazing speed. Somehow no one in the system got him to work on this? Will it change him that much? Juan Pierre, who attempted 43 bunt hits got on base a season-high 18 times (41.9% success rate). Now, this is oversimplifying it because who's to say Pierre would not have gotten base knocks if he swung away but if you take away 18 hits from Pierre's line his .279 batting average becomes a .239 batting average and his OBP drops to .309. That's pretty substantial. Even if Revere was able to steal 10 additional bunt hits last season, he would have been hitting .288 with a much more respectable .340 OBP.

But I think we heard about Carew working on this with Gomez, Punto, Span, every guy with a set of wheels that has come through Spring Training with the Twins and it didn't do that much.

And we also learned today that Rod Carew ruined JJ Hardy's swing.

Rod Carew occasionally works with hitters, and Paul Molitor has worked with the Twins on their base running in recent years... Apparently there is zero correlation between being at great player and being a great coach.

However he goes about doing it, developing his bunting skills is a must for Revere. With his kind of speed, you don't even need to drop down a perfect bunt in order to beat it out. His value as an offensive player is so dependent on having a high OBP, this needs to really be a focus for him.

It was sort of surprising to find out that he did not have this as part of his game. He's got almost zero power and blazing speed. Somehow no one in the system got him to work on this? Will it change him that much? Juan Pierre, who attempted 43 bunt hits got on base a season-high 18 times (41.9% success rate). Now, this is oversimplifying it because who's to say Pierre would not have gotten base knocks if he swung away but if you take away 18 hits from Pierre's line his .279 batting average becomes a .239 batting average and his OBP drops to .309. That's pretty substantial. Even if Revere was able to steal 10 additional bunt hits last season, he would have been hitting .288 with a much more respectable .340 OBP.

That seems a bit extreeme... did you take away the 43 at bats too?

What do you mean? Without bunts, Gomez wouldn't have hit .100