Let’s get back to talking about the bunt and how to make it work properly. It just might make the pivotal difference in important games.
I find some satisfaction in watching Major League hitters trying to lay down a sacrifice bunt in a critical moment of a tight game. Take, for example, Game 2 of the Orioles v. Royals, whereby Kansas City’s number-9 hitter, Mikael Garcia, made three attempts at bunting a runner into scoring position. Garcia failed to put the ball in play, resulting in a strikeout.
While his team eventually rallied and scored the tie-breaking run, they had to rely on heroics and unlikely hits in situations where they hoped for two-out rallies rather than applying what would seem to be simple fundamentals in moving runners, station to station by way of a simple bunt.
When the fundamentals of this useful offensive tool are properly applied, the bunt should be a key to a well-balanced offensive plan. For what seems to be a generation, though, the fundamentals have been taken for granted. How can such superior athletes, and in many cases, 5-tool players, forget to apply the simplest tasks during a baseball game?
The answer? It is a forgotten element of the game, a skill that no longer gets broken down and applied like a chip shot from the fringe in golf or a layup in basketball. The best of the best seem to suck at bunting on the grandest of stages because it is assumed that everyone can do it with ease when called upon. The result is proving to be that the exact opposite is true.
Courtesy Bleacher Report
According to MLB archive stats, 1,367 sacrifice bunts were recorded during the 1988 season, when power numbers were not as emphasized as they are today. Strategies, like moving runners from station to station with less than two outs, were held to a higher standard than relying on the three-run homer to close a deficit.
But, then again, there were 3100+ home runs recorded that year. Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco, aka The Bash Brothers, made headlines for their majestic home runs. 1988 was also the year that Kirk Gibson limped to the plate in Game 1 of the World Series and hit a walk-off home run off of Dennis Eckersley to set the stage for a Dodgers’ World Series win. Those old enough to have watched games in 1988 remember home runs, but do we also remember bunts? Heck, no, even though bunting was done frequently and with success.
The PED-assisted power surge of the late 1990s and eventual expansion from 26 to 30 teams saw seasonal totals for the home run climb to 5,528 in 1999. This seems to be around when the bunting strategy slightly declined to 1,164 that year and went down steadily over the next 20 years towards a designation of relic and lost art for baseball purists.
By 2023, the sacrifice bunt was successfully executed only 429 times, a 69% drop from that memorable 1988 season. Bunting for hits also declined, from 772 in the 2002 season to (get this) 167 in 2024 (-78%).
After breaking down Garcia’s approach and that of many others, one can see why it isn’t being successfully executed nearly as much anymore. It flat-out looks awkward. Some players like Corbin Carroll and perhaps Daulton Varsho have used the bunt for an infield hit, usually when the infielders are situated further back and often when nobody is on base, to get a rally started.
However, others seem to be receiving the sign from the third base coach and reacting like kids being asked to turn away from their tech devices and take out the garbage. They don’t want to do it.
As they should be applied, the fundamentals will look like the hitter properly pivoting their back foot and keeping their front foot closed. Weight should be distributed similarly to how it would be upon the point of contact with a normal, decent swing. The top hand should be placed just short of the barrel in a “gun shape” with the trigger or index finger fully pulled back in alignment with the other fingers. The bottom hand should remain close to the bottom knob of the bat. Following this setup, the batter catches the ball with the bat.
If applied as explained here, the ball can only go … down. Move along, runners!
It is unfortunate that this fundamental explanation of “catching the ball with the bat” has been replaced by “swatting,” pushing, and often wrapping all fingers around the bat, where the risk of breaking fingers and hands adds misery to the failed attempt at laying down the sacrifice bunt.
Fundamentals start with conversations, discussing the bunt and how to make it work properly. It just might make the pivotal difference in important games.
