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CCard wrote: ↑02 Nov 2025 17:39 pm

scoutyjones2 wrote: ↑02 Nov 2025 11:26 am

CCard wrote: ↑02 Nov 2025 04:56 am

blackinkbiz wrote: ↑01 Nov 2025 23:30 pm

ZouMiz2424 wrote: ↑01 Nov 2025 23:22 pm All it takes is a walk and ground ball to escape. Statistically it lowers your chances of scoring to give away out s

Especially because it seems like no one is capable of simply hitting a sac fly anymore. Growing up, a sac fly was almost automatic as far as I recall.

Don't know if it's because of how many pitchers throw with movement or sinkers or what but whatevs... hopefully this is just extra juice to implement the cap and floor.

This exactly. There is no directional hitting, everyone swings for the fences. Suicide squeezes if done right are almost impossible to defend. Of course you have to have a batter that will sell out to make contact though and it amazes me how many batters in key situations contort their bodies to miss being hit. I know it hurts but in a key situation it could decide a game. Personally I think the proper play is to bunt the runner to third. Then a fly ball, infield hit, ground ball in a hole wild pitch, passed ball, error can all tie or win a game.

But it doesn't.

Living in the past

Prove it.

Now you prove yours...

Bill James, considered to be the godfather of analytics, explained in a 2011 NPR interview that “bunting is usually a waste of time. If you think about it, a bunt is the only play in baseball that both sides applaud. So what does that tell you? Nobody’s really winning here.

“And hitting in (the) clutch is unpredictable and unreliable,” he added. “The way you really score more runs is by getting more people on base.”

scoutyjones2 wrote: ↑02 Nov 2025 17:43 pm

CCard wrote: ↑02 Nov 2025 17:39 pm

scoutyjones2 wrote: ↑02 Nov 2025 11:26 am

CCard wrote: ↑02 Nov 2025 04:56 am

blackinkbiz wrote: ↑01 Nov 2025 23:30 pm

ZouMiz2424 wrote: ↑01 Nov 2025 23:22 pm All it takes is a walk and ground ball to escape. Statistically it lowers your chances of scoring to give away out s

Especially because it seems like no one is capable of simply hitting a sac fly anymore. Growing up, a sac fly was almost automatic as far as I recall.

Don't know if it's because of how many pitchers throw with movement or sinkers or what but whatevs... hopefully this is just extra juice to implement the cap and floor.

This exactly. There is no directional hitting, everyone swings for the fences. Suicide squeezes if done right are almost impossible to defend. Of course you have to have a batter that will sell out to make contact though and it amazes me how many batters in key situations contort their bodies to miss being hit. I know it hurts but in a key situation it could decide a game. Personally I think the proper play is to bunt the runner to third. Then a fly ball, infield hit, ground ball in a hole wild pitch, passed ball, error can all tie or win a game.

But it doesn't.

Living in the past

Prove it.

Now you prove yours...

Bill James, considered to be the godfather of analytics, explained in a 2011 NPR interview that “bunting is usually a waste of time. If you think about it, a bunt is the only play in baseball that both sides applaud. So what does that tell you? Nobody’s really winning here.

“And hitting in (the) clutch is unpredictable and unreliable,” he added. “The way you really score more runs is by getting more people on base.”

That is just an opinion and more of a preference by James. It's a fact that if you get a runner to third with less than 2 outs there is a ton of ways to score that run. Much easier to hit a deep ground ball or a pop fly than to get a hit. You hit a fly ball without bunting the runner over and then it basically requires a hit to score that run. I think I'll side with a century of baseball intelligence over a guy who does "analytics."

IKF had a bad year at the plate and was even worse in the playoffs. Even against a tired Yamamoto odds were good he would have been overmatched. A man on third with one out and better hitters in Barger and Kirk coming up was a good situation to be in. It just didn't work.

Studies have shown that giving up an out through bunting often reduces the overall probability of scoring, leading many teams to reconsider its efficacy.

Analytics experts argue that bunting reduces a team’s overall run expectancy. By statistically analyzing countless game situations, they concluded that making an out to advance a runner frequently isn’t worth sacrificing a potential hitting opportunity. As a result, managers and coaches increasingly rely on data-driven decisions that discourage bunting.

Furthermore, the advent of technologies that track player and ball movement in real time has provided teams with deeper insights into player performance and game dynamics. This information is used to position defenses strategically, often making it more challenging for a bunt to succeed. In light of these defensive shifts, the likelihood of bunting successfully has decreased, rendering the tactic less appealing.

Moreover, with the advent of the designated hitter rule in both leagues of Major League Baseball (MLB), there are fewer opportunities for traditional bunting scenarios. Pitchers, historically seen as less effective hitters, were often called to bunt. With fewer pitchers batting, naturally lessens the need for bunting skills within a team’s strategy.


Bunting hurts scoring chances