Punishing for Excellence

I noted the past week that maybe half a dozen MLB batters tried to bunt.  Now, this is significant in that I really don't watch the Tigers very often.  Some bunters were trying to sacrifice and others were trying to bunt for hits.  I thought this was unusual in that I don't see Major League batters bunting very much.  (I also see them play deep in the outfield, far too deep in my view.  I have always been a believer in playing more shallow.  More hits can be taken away by doing that than playing so darn deep.  And, many of the balls hit over the outfielders' heads are over the fences anyway.  But, perhaps they aren't very good defensively and certainly playing deeper does cover for defensive weaknesses.)

First, I was, as usual not at all surprised at the poor sacrifice bunt technique of MLB players.  They, frankly, can't bunt very well.  It's a shame because bunting is a useful tool and, when executed properly, fun to watch.  It puts pressure on the defense and I wonder, if more teams were threats to bunt, if more batted balls would scoot through the infield with infielders just a couple of steps in.

Second, some of the batters, in fact all of them, who were trying to bunt for hits did it all wrong.  Each one was thrown out, if they even got the ball down in fair territory.  In large part that was because they had rotten technique.  In most instances, they merely used sacrifice bunt techniques.

I guess a logical question is, Don't they practice this?  My guess is they don't, at least not very much.  If they do, I'll bet their hearts aren't in it.  After all, who makes the big bucks, the bunter or the home run hitter?  And managers seem to eschew bunting, likely harkening back to the Earl Weaver theory of offense--a couple of three-run homers will win the game.

Back when, we'd practice bunting much more religiously.  Our coach would put his hat or a glove down the third base line, oh, maybe 40-50 down, about five feet inside the foul line.  We'd aim for it.  And, some of us never practiced sacrifice bunts, but bunting for hits.  Even in games, sacrifice situations were, for a couple of us, bunt-for-hit situations.  (I always thought that was a big, big mistake by MLB scorers, not giving a batter a sacrifice and no time-at-bat and hence not hurting his batting average who moved up a runner when he bunted for a hit instead of using the sacrifice technique.  The logic, if it can be called that, is that the batter wasn't giving himself up, not sacrificing himself to move up the runner(s).  But the other side of the coin is that these guys, bunting for hits in sacrifice situations, have perfected a more difficult technique.  They have convinced their coaches/managers of their skill.  So, by doing this--achieving, if not excellence, at least a higher degree of skill, they are punished by being given a time at bat.  It seems quite foolish to me.)

OK, I could bunt for a hit pretty darn well.  Yep, I could hit my coach's hat or glove more often than not.  He once told me, "With my [his] wheels, if could have bunted like you I could have made the majors."  Unfortunately, I had "wheels" like, well, me!  I have frequently wondered what I might have batted--average-wise--my senior year had I bunted for hits a few more times.  I was hitting clean-up and, well, clean-up hitters usually aren't in bunt situations.  (Hey, isn't that a sacrifice, too?  Nah, I'm kidding.)  I didn't have a bunt hit all year, none that I remember, and don't remember even trying.

Bunting, a lost art......