The Art of Bunting

That was the way I was taught and always try to teach. Catch the ball with the bat. Was also taught to do it with split hands. One near the knob and one at the trademark for better control.

 

My number one complaint is over the last several years almost every time a SAC situation comes up and the kid is bunting he goes at it like he's dragging. The next pitch same sign same drag effort same poor result usually. Then I never see the coach say anything to the player correcting it. I know in my book a SAC and a drag are two completely different things. On a good note however, I do see kids congratulating each other when a successful SAC bunt was executed.

 

Bunting

Bunting is a huge part of the game. Now when you are a far superior team its not. And neither is hitting your cut off man consistently or executing first and third defense , holding runners etc etc etc. But the fact is when you are playing a quality opponent the little things add up to be the big things that are the difference in winning and loosing. The team that can put runners in scoring posistion by bunting and stay out of double play situations as well give themselves more opportunitites to score runs with fewer hits. And we are talking about HS sports here there are alot of times when the sac bunt ends up turning into a basehit or a ball thrown into the outfield. Teams that understand the importance of the bunt also understand the importance of defending the bunt and getting an out somewhere. I have seen it happen so many times. A team is not hitting and someone lays down a bunt and then the bats come alive. You have to be able to put pressure on a team to make plays. We take bp everyday and part of bp is bunting. Sac bunts , drag bunts and squeeze plays. We work on defending the bunt game while we are working on the offensive side of the bunt game. It is alot harder to bunt with metal in my opinion that it is wood. But if you work at it you can become good at it just like anything else. The keys to me are - Bunt strikes. Be committed to getting the job done. Get that good 45degree angle with the bat head and see the ball down before you try to run. Alot of times kids are so worried about getting out of the box they dont watch the ball all the way into the bat. Your first job is to get it down in fair territory not reach base. Its a sac bunt ok. Then run like heck and see what happens. Now as far as players not wanting to bunt all I will say about that is if your team needs you to move a runner and you are more concerned with what you want to do rather than what your teams needs you to do then you need to find somewhere else to be real fast. Coaches have to teach players the importance of moving runners. Teach them how effective the bunt game can be. And then teach them to properly execute it as well. Former Northwood HS coach Ron Hortons teams were outstanding at the bunt game. They would sac with 2 strikes , squeeze with two strikes , bunt and steal etc etc. It was obvious that he spent alot of time working on it and it won him some games over the years. We work on it alot. We like to think we are pretty good at it year in and year out. But the last thing Im worried about is wether the kids want to bunt or not.

 

I watched a team at the State Championship Game and all they had to do was lay a bunt down....and the game was theirs. The young man batting made the worst attempt I had ever seen. It's not that he didn't try, he just had poor mechanics and it was obvious something that he was rarely asked to do. You never want to say that one play cost a team a game, but that one play prevented them from winning at that time with a successful bunt

In my opinion this says it all:

"Alot of times kids are so worried about getting out of the box they dont watch the ball all the way into the bat. Your first job is to get it down in fair territory not reach base. Its a sac bunt ok."

 

One of the best lines heard at a game was with a bunt situation. Player at bat was very poor at bunting, but average player, had not been taught at any age level to bunt. Coach at third never put the sign on for the obvious, former LL coach and parent of another player very loudly disgreed with not bunting. Coach was at breaking point for other reasons with this parent, turned and said "You had him for six years why didn't you teach him."

 

I had a group playing in Tennessee one time. Gave the bunt sign to a player. We were playing 18/U and the kid was actually 15. Power hitter etc. He put down one of the best bunts you have ever seen, and actually beat it out for a hit and got an RBI. Coming off the field I congratulated him and asked him when was the last time he had bunted. He said coach it was the 1st time I have ever bunted. But you know he had not taken bunting practice lightly and knew what to do when the time came. BTW, he turned out to be an all state player jr and sr years and is pitching in college his 4th year now. He never batted an eye when I gave him that signal and you could tell he was very proud of himself that he contributed to the teams win. We were a HS team that beat a team with 7 D-1 signees that day by playing small ball. We must have laid down 8-10 bunts. They never knew what hit them. I was proud of those guys and so was the opposing coach. Bunting, as has been said before, can be a great equalizer.

 

Always...

a part of my preseason practice plan. One day of instruction about 20 minutes....next day of dry technique/demonstration follow up...following day of the cut down pitching machine each player with at least a dozen attempts while being coached...same thing the next day...off of a pitcher (no swings) the foillowing day a dozen.... so therefore a week's worth of practicing bunting and it then precedes BP with two sacs down each line, squeeze attempt then HIT AWAY!

 

It was a long time ago, but the 1988 NC 4A title was won by a team with inferior talent but the ability to bunt in ANY situation. I was lucky enough to be a part of that team.

Bunt offense AND defense was practiced each and every day. We called it BuddyBall in honor of our coach Buddy Rego. He believed that if you could bunt and defend the bunt, it put more pressure on the opponent. And in most cases, he was right.

We ended almost every practice with our squeeze drill for sprints. We got to a point where we rarely ran a sprint because we would be perfect in the drill.

We did crazy things with the bunt because we were confident in our ability to execute. Bunting with two strikes was nothing. How about laying down a suicide squeeze two batters in a row? Or a bunt and run with two or three runners taking off with no outs (thus risking a triple play)?

I continue to display my championship ring proudly in my home. We had some good ball players on that team. A few of us went on to play some decent college ball and another has had a great career in the big leagues. But one of the biggest reasons was because we could bunt and defend the bunt...and our opponents...well...they couldn't.

 

great post...

I ve been saying this all along! I think the best HS in the state who does this and what you mentioned "regularly" with success is the IRONMEN of Cherryville and well ah hem they have at least a couple if not several state "C"'s from doing just this!

 

East Rutherford does a pretty good job at it too. But I do believe there is a connection.