In my opinion, bunting is one of the most overlooked aspects of the game of baseball. Bunting is a huge part of the game and I think that any hitter who wants to be great should be able to bunt. Bunting involves a hitter sticking his bat out over the plate in order to put the ball in play to move a runner over and sacrifice himself as an out. Different coaches have different opinions of bunting. For example, Troy Silva, the author of my book 9 Innings of Hitting, does "not like the idea of giving up an out to move a runner" (Silva 1443). On the other hand, some coaches are totally comfortable with giving up an out if it helps put the runner in scoring position. Scoring position is when a runner is on second or third base.
There are 3 main types of bunting, sacrifice bunt, drag bunt, and push bunt. At practice, I focused on working on my sacrifice bunting. "Sacrifice bunts tend to be called for in close game situations where the team desperately needs to produce a run" (Silva 1453). The technique for sacrifice bunting are pretty basic, Silva describes it as the hitter rotating the body so that his face is chest is facing the pitcher and not allowing the barrel of the bat to drop below parallel to the ground (Silva 1453). Below, you can see that my chest is facing the pitcher and the barrel of my bat is parallel to the ground.
Most importantly, Silva says that the "legs should be bent and the hitters eyes should be low and behind the barrel of the bat" (Silva 1453). When Silva says that your eyes should be behind the barrel, he doesnt mean directly behind it because you can easily be hit in the face with the pitch if you put your eyes behind the barrel of the bat. Bending your legs is the most important part of bunting because the hitter can adjust to the height of the pitch if he is in an athletic position and this connects to the barrel of the bat not dropping below parallel to the ground which was mentioned in the previous paragraph. Below, it can be seen that my eyes are behind the barrel of the bat and my legs are bent which allowed for me to adjust to the height of the pitch.
I understand that if I want to achieve my goals in baseball I must be able to be a great bunter. My coach for my select team has made it a requirement that every practice I have to work on my bunting. Bunting is an important skill to have and all hitters should have the ability to bunt.
Q: Do you agree with me that all hitters should be able to bunt?
Citation: Silva, Troy. 9 Innings of Hitting. Indiana: Dog Ear Publishing, 2013
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