Today let's talk about something that people either really love, or really hate: Bunting. Whether you like it or not, it is a skill that needs to be taught, and can win you baseball games. Most of the coaches out there right now will say, that the game has changed due to the new bats, and they're right. Here's where they are wrong; You can still increase your batting average and score more runs than you did in the past with the new bats. You must be able to incorporate the threat of small ball into your offense. I didn't say that you have to play small ball, you have to have the threat. Now, of course this means that yes you will have to play some small ball to plant that seed in the other teams mind, but hear me out. As a team, you can kill a teams will with a well placed bunt. It can start a rally, it can force an error, or it can even win a game. Moving runners through the means of bunting is way more effective than trusting your team to mash the whole season. If you bunt during bunting situations, and have guys that can bunt for a hit, it will move the defense up in the infield. Whether the coach tells them (he probably will), or not they will subconsciously move forward in the infield to make the play on the bunt. This will raise your team batting average and allow you to take bases on teams that shouldn't be taken, because the team is out of position. And here's where I get the, "small ball is for babies" and "I want my kids to have fun" stuff. Well first of all, my team is still going to hit the hell out of the ball, and second of all your kids will have fun when they're winning and scoring runs. How can my team still crush the ball if I'm playing small ball? Because, it's just like anything in life. The more things that you have to think about, the more likely it is you'll mess something up. If you can put the threat of small ball into the defense's mind, now everyone is watching for it, including the pitcher, who will in turn throw more dead red fastballs than normal, because he isn't 100 percent focused on the job at hand. If you have the chance, watch Vanderbilt play baseball. They do a perfect job of this, and in turn score a lot of runs, and play a very fast paced game. The quicker your offense moves, the quicker the defense moves, and the quicker errors, bad pitches, and bad throws happen. Try this philosophy. You'll be surprised at how quick the game gets going, when you're running all over the other team, and if you're a guy who loves hitting (like me) you will see a lot more mistakes that you can hit out of the yard because of it.
Now let's talk about how to bunt. There are three key things to remember:
1. Start with your bat high in the zone, so that all you have to do is bend your legs to get to a lower pitch.
2. Keep the bat flat. The old "keep it at angle theory" will result in too many missed bunts.
Notice that in the above picture, this batter is doing all of these things. He is also playing for a major league team. This is how they do it, so this is how every player should do it.
This topic angers a lot of coaches, so I apologize if you disagree with this theory, but it will work. You will score more runs, and you will hit for a higher average. Baseball is changing, and if you don't evolve with it, you will die out.
Tip of the Day: The more players that you have that can bunt and/or bunt for a hit, the better the above philosophy will work for your team. Make sure that every kid is able to bunt, even if he is your four hitter and will probably never bunt.
Until Next Time!
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