It’s a time honored baseball tradition, but more and more so it seems the sacrifice bunt is becoming a gambit of yesteryear. Modern day managers call for a sacrifice bunt less than the skippers who came before them. When the signal is on for a sacrifice, modern day batters, raised on the hutzpah of the long ball, struggle to lay the ball down and put the ball in play to advance the runner.
A sacrifice bunt is associated with forfeiting an out to advance a run for the purpose of scoring a single run. Detractors argue in surrendering an out, managers create a scenario that limits the possibility of a big inning; big innings, more than single runs, determine the outcome of a baseball game.
Those sabermetrically inclined will tell you that statistics decry the concept of willingly giving up outs. Statistically speaking, teams that choose not to forfeit an out to advance a runner score more runs than those using the sacrifice bunt.
Of course, so much depends on who is asked to bunt under what circumstances, who is pitching, who will follow the bunter to the batter’s box and so on. And, some teams do still include the sacrifice bunt as part of their offensive arsenal. One such team is the Double-A Binghamton Mets.
In their final regular season series with New Hampshire over the weekend, B-Met manager Pedro Lopez used the sacrifice bunt at critical junctures of both the
Binghamton victories. Friday night, the B-Mets were locked in a 0-0 tie. In fact, Binghamton had been held hitless when they came to the plate in the sixth inning. Joe Bonfe led off and skipped a hard ground ball to third. The Fisher Cat third sacker threw wide of first with Bonfe reaching base on an error. Lopez called on Alonzo Harris to use a sacrifice bunt and advance Bonfe. After fouling off two attempts, Harris was allowed to swing away but worked a walk putting B-Mets on first and second with nobody out.
A determined Lopez signaled once again, this time to Daniel Muno, to lay down a bunt. Muno put down a beauty forcing the third baseman to advance playing the ball to throw him out at first with both runners advancing.
After Josh Rodriquez looked at three consecutive balls, the New Hampshire manager called for an intentional walk, but ball four sailed wide of the catcher, allowing the first B-Met run to score without a base hit. Travis Taijeron then ripped a double down the line scoring both B-Met runners, the only runs of the night with Binghamton winning, 3-0.
Sunday night, Allan Dykstra blasted a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth providing Binghamton a narrow 3-2 lead. In the bottom of the seventh, Xorge Carrillo worked a lead-off walk. Lopez called for a bunt to advance Carrillo with Joe Bonfe dropping a bunt down the third base line that he beat out for a single.
Next up, Danny Muno. Once again, Pedro Lopez called for a sacrifice bunt. As he did in Friday’s contest, Muno delivered a bunt to the third base side, fielded by a fast approaching NH pitcher, Chad Beck. Hurrying to get the lead runner, Beck fired the ball past third base into short left field with Bonfe scoring and the runners advancing to third and second on the miscue. Two batters later, after Darrell Ceciliani and Josh Rodriquez sacrifice fly balls, the Binghamton lead had been stretched to a bunt aided 6-2 score.
To bunt or not to bunt, an age old question with no formula driven answer. It seems to me learning to bunt is a valuable skill in a proficient baseball batter’s tool kit, one more asset that allows him the adapt to the changing situations presented in a game. With a top notch pitching staff, it’s understandable why Binghamton manager Pedro Lopez sometimes opts to bunt to add on a single run. Just one more dimension of a franchise record breaking 2013 B-Mets baseball team.
(photo credit: Gordon Donovan)