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Saturday, March 1, 2008
How To... Sacrifice Bunt
Eastern Oklahoma, OK
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By: By Bill Springman
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Photo(s) By: Rainette Rowland
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There's more to baseball than homeruns
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Did you know that bunting is considered to be extinct among young baseball players? The bunt is still effective when done correctly.
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The sacrifice bunt is one of those skills that can easily be taught. Unfortunately in the business now we call this the dinosaur, which means the bunt is extinct. Not many young players now practice the sacrifice bunt. But everyone knows that in the last inning of a game, or close to the last inning, when you need to advance a runner into scoring position, it’s highly critical to have a level of consistency to get that ball down and advance that runner, whether it’s from first to second or from second to third. When you can do that consistently, the whole team gives you a bunch of cheers and kudos, especially the coach who will have a big smile on his face.
So No. 1 in our series of the sacrifice bunt, and remember, the term sacrifice means that you sacrifice yourself to get the ball down in a general area in front of home plate to advance the runner. It is not about you getting on base, it’s about you sacrificing yourself to possibly get out in order to advance the runner for the good of the team.
The first thing we do is create a bigger angle to give us more room to bunt in. The back foot should be even with the back part of home plate. The further back I am, the less distance I have to get that bunt down. So by getting closer to the pitcher the better angle I have created for myself.
I want to choke up on the bat just a little bit, but don’t do it to the point where everybody notices. The most important thing in the sacrifice bunt is to give yourself plenty of room by scooting up. The main thing is bringing the bat quickly around and we also flex our knees. From this point, there are two things I can do. I can either move my bat back and bunt down the first base side by keeping my shoulders square with first base, or I can pull my bat back and bunt towards third base. It’s critical when you have a runner of first that you are bunting toward the first base side. With a runner of second base, you always want to bunt to the third base side.
A big and important thing is to make sure that you get a strike to bunt. Level your bat out. Some people want to have the bat at an angle for less pop-ups, which is kind of old school thinking. Right now we want to get that bat level and get your head down even with the strike zone. You put your top hand on the middle of the bat, kind of like pinching the bat. The bottom hand slides up and you stay low to the pitch. Remember, it the pitch is above the barrel of the bat it’s a bad pitch. I want to be in crouch where I’m ready to see the pitch. If the ball is a low strike I don’t drop the barrel head. The barrel head never goes below the handle, it always stays up. So with a low pitch I flex my knees to get that ball down. The most important thing with the sacrifice bunt is getting the ball down. Don’t try to be too perfect down the lines. All we want is for the bunt to be is outside the dirt circle on the grass somewhere. That’s all we care about so don’t try to be too fine on a sacrifice bunt.
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