I think bunting has it's time and place and can be incredibly valuable to have a few guys on your team that can lay down a good sacrifice or even bunt for hit. Especially if the team is having trouble scoring runs. Then it becomes even more important to bunt, steal, and move runners over. You can't expect to score all your runs on home runs, even in todays game.

1 hour ago, LambchoP said:

I think bunting has it's time and place and can be incredibly valuable to have a few guys on your team that can lay down a good sacrifice or even bunt for hit. Especially if the team is having trouble scoring runs. Then it becomes even more important to bunt, steal, and move runners over. You can't expect to score all your runs on home runs, even in todays game.

Good point LambchoP, with the new rules & the league taking away the HR advantage by adjusting to the "all or nothing" approach, reducing the number of HRs, Which forces teams to focus more on fundamentals to score those runs needed, those who don't will be left behind. IMO it makes the game more interesting.

This team needs to work on all the fundamentals. I don't think they really have much since TK and Gardy left. Bunting, hitting behind the runners, base running and for some base stealing!

On 2/17/2025 at 10:55 AM, Karbo said:

This team needs to work on all the fundamentals. I don't think they really have much since TK and Gardy left. Bunting, hitting behind the runners, base running and for some base stealing!

On 2/17/2025 at 10:55 AM, Karbo said:

This team needs to work on all the fundamentals. I don't think they really have much since TK and Gardy left. Bunting, hitting behind the runners, base running and for some base stealing!

Rocco doesn’t believe in fundamentals such as bunting, hit and run, base stealing, etc. He’s all about analytics and not much else, it seems. 

Especially from the left-hand batter's box, lay down a bunt in your first PA of the season, and do it again late in the same game. Then every second game or so, for a while, do it your first or second time up, game situation permitting.  Give the defense something to think about and maybe open up some real estate for your regular grounders to sneak through.  Maybe not Wallner or Larnach though, LOL.

Bunting for a hit is great. Bunting just to move a runner over? Much, much less great. Even bunting them over from 2B to 3B with no out and no one else on in a tie game late...not all that great, but against some pitchers and in some situations, it may be useful/effective.

I think it's great for hitters to know how to do it, and any hitter who has the footspeed to beat one out should definitely spend some time practicing it. But is it going to be all that impactful for someone like Matt Wallner (who takes a while to get moving) or Carlos Correa (who is just slow) to spend much time on? I'd say no.

Guys like Buxton, Castro, Martin, Kiersey, Bader? Sure. they're guys that aren't just moving a runner over and giving up an out if they bunt, they'll actually pressure the defense. I'm just not in favor of just trading an out for a base.

I agree with you but the Twins just trade an out for nothing, most often.

I watched Walker Jenkins lay down a bunt then steal 2nd & 3rd! I hope Rocco wasn't watching!

With a runner on third and less than two outs the Twins habitually go to the worst play in baseball, the contact play. Of course the other team knows it is coming, so the most common result is trading a runner at third for a runner at first and one more out. But there is no effective defense against a well-executed bunt in that situation. 

Also, in extra innings, bunting the runner at second to third gives you many more chances to score than the usual fly ball, popup, or grounder to the left side. But no one does this.

4 hours ago, Mahoning said:

With a runner on third and less than two outs the Twins habitually go to the worst play in baseball, the contact play. Of course the other team knows it is coming, so the most common result is trading a runner at third for a runner at first and one more out. But there is no effective defense against a well-executed bunt in that situation. 

Also, in extra innings, bunting the runner at second to third gives you many more chances to score than the usual fly ball, popup, or grounder to the left side. But no one does this.

That TC doesn't do this drives me nuts.

Watching batting practice is my idea of fun. That was true when I was young and still is, whether playing or coaching or managing or now as an old retired fan of the game.

The two best bunters I ever saw were Rod Carew and Barry Bonds. I marveled at Rod and his routine but it was in the late 1960s and then in the 1970s, so I cannot precisely remember all of the details except that Carew took his time. Bonds did something I never saw another player do. He grabbed some orange traffic cones and placed them at specific places on the field and then proceeded to bunt to each cone with the idea of the ball stopping as close to the cone as possible without hitting it. It was pure artistry. 

I know for a fact that there are players who do not practice bunting and without practicing a skill it is pointless to attempt in a game against MLB pitching. I have heard and read the idea that bunting against velocity and "today's pitchers" is too difficult. I can unequivocally state that this is complete nonsense. Of course not every player will be accomplished at bunting even with practice any more than practice will make every player a great hitter or gold glove fielder. 

A team or player that wants to win should be really interested in learning how to bunt. The last time I saw Bonds in batting practice was in Arizona in 2002. This guy had 10 seasons greater than the year that Shohei Ohtani had last season and yet there he was out there with his cones playing darts, 5 bunts to each of 5 cones all perfectly dropped as if it was nothing. Talent needs practice to develop a skill.

By the way, I watched Ohtani beat out a bunt for a base hit last season and I wondered whether he had a specific routine.

10 hours ago, Senior Softball Guy said:

I watched Walker Jenkins lay down a bunt then steal 2nd & 3rd! I hope Rocco wasn't watching!

4 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Watching batting practice is my idea of fun. That was true when I was young and still is, whether playing or coaching or managing or now as an old retired fan of the game.

The two best bunters I ever saw were Rod Carew and Barry Bonds. I marveled at Rod and his routine but it was in the late 1960s and then in the 1970s, so I cannot precisely remember all of the details except that Carew took his time. Bonds did something I never saw another player do. He grabbed some orange traffic cones and placed them at specific places on the field and then proceeded to bunt to each cone with the idea of the ball stopping as close to the cone as possible without hitting it. It was pure artistry. 

I know for a fact that there are players who do not practice bunting and without practicing a skill it is pointless to attempt in a game against MLB pitching. I have heard and read the idea that bunting against velocity and "today's pitchers" is too difficult. I can unequivocally state that this is complete nonsense. Of course not every player will be accomplished at bunting even with practice any more than practice will make every player a great hitter or gold glove fielder. 

A team or player that wants to win should be really interested in learning how to bunt. The last time I saw Bonds in batting practice was in Arizona in 2002. This guy had 10 seasons greater than the year that Shohei Ohtani had last season and yet there he was out there with his cones playing darts, 5 bunts to each of 5 cones all perfectly dropped as if it was nothing. Talent needs practice to develop a skill.

By the way, I watched Ohtani beat out a bunt for a base hit last season and I wondered whether he had a specific routine.

I admire sluggers taking the time to learn how to bunt.

I don't think we have to worry about Baldelli ever sending a sign to Jenkins to bunt. But it's nice to know that Jenkins on his own weighing the conditions being able to bunt if that situation when it arises.

Dan Hayes just had a piece about some of the adjustments they are making in camp.  First two rounds of BP is everyone hits the other way.  It’s a start and they are working fundamentals much more than before-even though it sounds basic to me.

No mention of bunting practice though, which is a basic skill of the game in my opinion.  In fact, Rocco mentioned it negatively.  But control the darn bat head. 

I look at it like pitchers fielding practice.  Everyone does it, kinda hates it but knows they need it, then take it less seriously than they should and then it loses the Yankees a World Series, potentially. 

Focusing on hitting it hard the other way can do most of the same things as a bunt with an extra damage potential but sometimes you just have to get runner over.  They should at least be putting the thought in a defenses calculus. 

Coaches and managers ride a fine line with their players. These guys are together 8 months or more a year. There are more than a few players who would have a problem with required bunting practice.

In today's game, a player must take the initiative and find the time on their own. The coaches are always willing to throw or feed a machine. 15-30 minutes a day is needed to build and refine the bunting skills that every player was forced to do as part of their youth and high school practices. We may see this skill make its way back into the game. What goes around comes around.

On 2/20/2025 at 11:31 AM, tony&rodney said:

Coaches and managers ride a fine line with their players. These guys are together 8 months or more a year. There are more than a few players who would have a problem with required bunting practice.

In today's game, a player must take the initiative and find the time on their own. The coaches are always willing to throw or feed a machine. 15-30 minutes a day is needed to build and refine the bunting skills that every player was forced to do as part of their youth and high school practices. We may see this skill make its way back into the game. What goes around comes around.

what is this "bunting" you speak of sir Rodney?