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Down And Out
by Dave
Monday, April 09, 2007
I'd like to discuss a very important, often neglected, subject, the sacrifice bunt. Sacrifice bunting is about run production and, therefore, is as important to the offensive game as hitting homeruns or having a good batting average. Run production is the only thing that matters in offensive softball. Nobody can ignore any subject having to do with run production.
I was working with a kid on my team who has a nice swing ... and the power to back it up. She's one of my older kids so after our hitting practice was over, I encouraged her to move over with the 14U kids at their practice. I coach 12U and have a good relationship with the fellow coaching the 14s. We like to work together for a number of reasons. I like my kids to interact with him because he teaches the small ball game as well as any person I have seen. I'd like all my kids to learn to bunt that better than I can teach them.
So this slugger of mine started going over to the 14's practice and my first observation there was quite interesting. The coach began teaching her to bunt and play the speed game. He had her slapping from the left side, drag bunting, and doing every other skill you would normally think of as "small ball." He taughter her to bunt for basehits and to perform a sacrifice properly. The girl's father turned to me chuckling and wondering aloud if she would ever use the skills the 14U coach was teaching her. I tried but was unsuccessful convincing him that these skills were invaluable. His daughter is a "big girl" who generally hits the ball on the screws and has trouble beating out anything that falls on the field of play - doesn't go over the fence. He laughs at the notion that his kid is ever going to beat out a drag bunt, use the slap bunt, or even try to sacrifice. That's a mistake which is all too common among softball parents and players.
Another little anecdote I have involves the head of an organization I met for the first time at a "friendly." His organization is relatively new and the 14U team on the field for our game was somewhat inexperienced. The head of the organization was not happy with his team's coach because he had some of their better hitters bunting. He complained that this kid or that can "drill one over the outfielders ... if she connects." He didn't like this coach "taking the bats our of their hands" and trying to bunt his 3, 4 and 5 hitters even one time. I think that point of view is also a mistake.
To me, the element which most defines the difference between fastpitch softball and hardball is the distance between the bases. You can't lead before ball release in fastpitch but even without that advantage, it is extremely difficult to throw a baserunner out at the lead bases when defensing a reasonably well executed bunt. If baserunners get an appropriate start, they are 50% of the way to base and running at full speed by the time the defensive player touches the ball. As she turns to make a throw, the baserunners should be about into their slides. And if she has picked up the ball cleanly, turned and made a good throw, the ball should get there about the same time as the runner. There's no margin for error. The result of even the slightest misstep is everybody's safe. Now the defense has a runner at first and second with nobody out rather than a runner at second and one out. The stage has been set for a multi-run rally. And the pitcher may have become distracted and lost some confidence in her defense. This may, in turn, make her look for the strikeout more than she would otherwise have. That's a dangerous scenario.
Generally speaking, playing to get the lead runner out on a sacrifice bunt should be a bad bet. That's because, if the thing is executed properly, the runner should make it to the next base safely almost every time. You do see some defenses get the lead runner but there's usually an underlying reason. It doesn't happen unless the runner stumbles, is extremely slow, misses the sign and doesn't get a good jump, or makes the all too typical mistake of hesitation which comes from routine poor execution.
Hesitation occurs when a team's bunters are only successful at getting the bunt down a small percentage of the time. When a team cannot routinely get bunts down, baserunners are hesitant to go. They expect the batter to miss, pop the ball up, or do something else which will not allow them to advance. That brief hesitation, that expectation of failure, makes them more ready targets for the fielders. If, on the other hand, a baserunner was 95% confident that the batter would get the ball down, she would begin running a slight bit earlier and make it almost every time there is a play on her.
(As an aside, if you're scouting a team, this is an important consideration. If you see a team which has great difficulty getting bunts down, you may want to go after their lead runners in sacrifice situations at key points in the game.)
Another element of fastpitch which makes it different than hardball is the value of a runner on third base. Because of the field dimensions, outfielders play a lot closer in than their hardball brethren. Because they are so close in, it is more difficult to get a runner in from second on an outfield basehit in fastpitch than it is in hardball. Runners routinely score from second in hardball with a few noteworthy throwouts - when the outfielder gets a good jump and makes a very good throw to the plate. In fastpitch, runners do score from second but the percentage of attempts is lower and the percentage of throwouts is greater, more so as the caliber of play increases.
In hardball, runners almost never try to score from third on groundouts because defenses often play the infield in during important points of the game. That extra 30 feet of basepath makes all the difference. Fast hardball baserunners with a good jump do score from third on groundouts when the infield is back but the average runner does not even attempt it if the infield is in at all or the ball is hit hard. In fastpitch, it is more routine to score a runner from third via a groundout to, for example, the second baseman. Hardball and fastpitch do share a common golden principle which is never make the first or third out at third base. The reasoning behind that golden rule is 1) with no outs, a bunt or ground out to the right side can move a runner to third easily and 2) if you're on second with two outs, you still can get knocked in via the basehit. In other words, it is not worth the risk of being put out to attempt third base with no or two outs. This rule is absolute in hardball. It still holds true in fastpitch but is less of an absolute. In fastpitch a runner on third is a more valuable commodity than in hardball so more risk is accepted. Still, it is far better to be bunted over to third than risk being put out stealing or otherwise advancing.
In fastpitch, the base coverage responsibilities on a bunt get confused when there's a runner on second. First and third are charging to field the bunt. The second baseman has to cover first to get the batter. And short is generally covering the lead runner at third. Obviously, there are ways to cover all the bases but a poorly drilled team can leave themselves vulnerable when they play for the runner at third. An alert batter-baserunner can round first and make for second where there may not be a player covering. That's a good result from the offensive perspective and a really bad one for the defense.
Finally, in your typical hardball game, you generally do not see many bunts in the first 3 innings of a game. You may see a speedster try to get things going by dragging his way onto base. But if say the first batter of the second inning gets on via a walk, the next hitter does not generally automatically try to move him over by sacrifice bunt. That does happen later in the game when it becomes apparent one run will make the difference between winning and losing. But you don't generally see small ball early in a hardball game. In fastpitch, games are shorter, usually closer, and involve less baserunners than in hardball. Pitchers are more dominant - there are far more perfect games, no hitters, one hitters, shutouts in fastpitch than there are in hardball. In fastpitch, among the dominant teams at each level, the star pitchers have far lower ERAs than their counterparts in baseball. It isn't unusual to see top level pitchers with sub-1 ERAs. You do not see that in hardball. For this reason, whenever a runner gets on first, regardless of how early or late in the game it is, the next thing any team should want to do is try to move her to second.
For these reasons, bunting is a more important element of fastpitch softball than it is of hardball. The bunt is just plain indispensable in fastpitch whereas in hardball it is just an "extra" skill which a few nice players have. If you're coaching or parenting a softball player or team, you ignore bunting at your own risk. You cannot call yourself a true fastpitch player unless you are able to perform a secrifice bunt reasonably well. Winning teams and good players almost always execute the sacrifice properly.
You would think these facts of the game would change people's approaches but they don't seem to. The fact is you do not see a high percentage of kids in fastpitch who can execute a decent sacrifice bunt. The good teams can but most kids cannot. There are perhaps more drag bunters and slappers who can move runners incidentally but a low percentage of kids can get a sacrifice down successfully on a routine basis.
It is interesting to me to watch the final rounds of higher level tournaments. Usually there are a number of teams which got there because they have dominant pitching and a bunch of bruisers who can pound the ball. They knock over the lower skilled teams and the middle of the pack pretty easily. Then they get into the round with the other top 7 teams and often lose because the other teams can pitch and hit equally but have the added dimension of being able to execute the small ball game. For a long time I wondered why one particular team always crushed us and everybody else in the area but could never make a real mark at the higher levels. The reason was they were incapable of playing for a single run. They couldn't execute the sacrifice well. They never had to until the final rounds and their coaches never thought to teach these skills. (Not only that but because they didn't play that way offensively and everybody else was always multiple runs behind, they also didn't expect other teams to play that way against them. They couldn't defense good bunting any better than they could execute it offensively!)
I do not believe the lack of skilled bunters is because it is particularly difficult to bunt in softball. I believe it is because the skill is ignored. The ball is a lot bigger than in hardball so the target is bigger. The spin of the ball in fastpitch tends to be overspin whereas in hardball it is generally backspin. This complicates bunting or makes it a little different in the two sports but it isn't necesarilly more difficult in fastpitch. A bunt in hardball typically goes down because of the backspin. A bunt in fastpitch generally goes up due to the overspin, unless you make it go down by holding the bat head up and making sure you hit the top half of the ball. Yet not everyone can do it and there must be a reason.
I believe too many fathers who once played baseball ignore the skill of bunting due to a prejudice they formed in their own playing days. They don't teach or encourage their kids to bunt because they want to see their girl become a big hitter. They take the hardball approach which is only weak hitters learn to bunt. Also, too many people in the game, like the head of the organization I talked about above, see bunting as "taking the bat out of a hitters hands." It isn't. It's all about run production through whatever means are available.
I've told you we get a lot of college games on our cable TV set up. I'd say there are several games each week which are recorded to my DVR. I watch most of them eventually. One of the things which sticks out to me is the relative inability to put down bunts even at this level. While checking a game out the other day I heard one of the announcers complain about a hitter's approach toward making a sacrifice. She did not get around into position until the last second and her bunt attempt, which failed, looked like a drag rather than a sacrifice. She was out when the ball bounced up and hit her as she was initially out of the box. That created a deaball situation in which the batter was out and the runner required to go back to base. The announcer complained, "a sacrifice is just that, you're giving yourself up." The idea is there is no way to try to get on while also making sure you perform a good bunt unless the fielders make a mistake or errant throw. There is no reason a player trying to make a sacrifice would EVER be hit by the ball before it is fielded. She shouldn't have been in such a hurry to get out of the box. She should have taken her time and made sure she got the bunt down and then proceeded to run to first. She should have taken up the bunt position earlier and she should have given herself up. It is unacceptable to be out in this manner when trying to sacrifice. That is definitely part of the problem. Too many players in this sport do not grasp the concept of a fundamental difference between sacrifice bunts and bunts for basehits.
In conclusion, I have limited objectives in this piece. All I want to do is make a couple points sacrifice bunting. Runs are a higher priced commodity in softball than they are in hardball. Runners on third are also more valuable in fastpitch because it is a better place from which to score. For those reasons, moving runners along via the sacrifice is a more important skill. Since run production is the objective and the means to the objective against tough, sub-1 ERA, pitchers is often bunting, all hitters must learn to sacrifice. The sacrifice is decidedly different from the drag or bunting for a basehit. Players must be taught the difference and learn to execute the sac even if they aspire to be homerun hitters. When an entire team is capable of putting down a sacrifice bunt, runners are more confident and get better jumps. The best teams can sacrifice effectively most of the time. That's often what makes the difference between yet another 16th place finish at nationals and competing for ther title.Labels: Bunt, Offense
 
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