To Bunt or Not to Bunt: The Great Debate

There has been an on-going debate over the past few years between writers here at StartWedman over the effectiveness of the sacrifice bunt. While I am firmly on one side of the fence, I will try to remain objective in my focus and analysis of the sacrifice bunt as a great and beneficial move for any club ever in the history of the game. Get it?

While I am almost positive that I stand alone on the pro-bunting side, we all do have to agree that whether they should bunt or not is extremely relative to the situation, who is batting, who comes up next, and what time of the year games are being played. While we are currently having a bunting argument over the World Series game last night, if this game was played in April, we would be idiots for caring.

For the sake of an even playing field, lets all assume that there is a runner on first with no outs when explaining/defending any of out points.

My pro-bunting argument mostly lands on the fact that runners are more likely to score if they are on second base rather than first. Regardless of the batter's batting average or power, it is easier to hit a single than a double, triple, or homerun. Just ask Craig Counsell.

I also tend to believe that there are most "good" possible outcomes when bunting the runner over than the "bad" outcomes of letting the batter swing away. For example, there are really only two "bad" outcomes of the sacrifice bunt. 1) You are handing the other team a free out (which I do not deny) and 2) you are taking the bat out 1 or more of your batters' hands. However, there are more "good" outcomes of the sacrifice bunt. 1) You move the runner into scoring position, 2) a speedy batter could potentially beat out a throw, or 3) the fielder commits an error.

So if you bunt, there are multiple chances for it to be a successful or unsuccessful move. No argument there. But I still believe that it is still a better option than letting someone swing away. With a runner on first and no outs, a few "good" outcomes can happen. Either the batter can get on base (ie. hit, walk, error etc.) or the batter can subsequently move the runner over in some other form. But remember, baseball is a game where some of the best players tend to fail 70% of the time. A fly ball and the runner stays on first with one out instead of standing on second. A ground ball and you either end up with a runner on first with one out or a double play. A strike out leaves you in the same boat.

Obviously, you aren't going to have Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder lay down a bunt, but putting a runner in scoring position for players of that caliber increases the likelihood of scoring a run. In the case of Elvis Andrus and the at bat that caused this, Andrus laid down a bunt and moved Ian Kinsler over into scoring position for arguably the best two hitters on the Rangers. While it did not pan out, it gave them the best chance to take the lead. The inning would have taken on a different feel had Andrus grounded into a double play.