Any good videos on bunting?

[CoogansBluff]

Two questions --

Some teach that you hold the bat parallel to the ground while bunting. Is that flat wrong (pardon the pun)? Or just a matter of opinion? Do most advocate having the knob of the bat lower than the other end while waiting on the ball?

Also, Mendoza teaches to hold the bat one third from the knob and one third from the end, kinda like this ...


I-----H-----H------I

The 'H' is where you hold the bat.

Obviously, she knows a little something about it, but most instructors tell me it should be ....

I--H------H---------I

Where the left is the knob and right is the fat end of the bat.

Also, how straight should the arms be toward the pitcher when bunting? I've seen effective bunters hold the bat far away from the body and toward the pitcher (almost no bend in the arms). But I've never taught it that way.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Here is the Mendoza video - Jessica Mendoza Softball Training - HIT: Bunting : Softball.com - YouTube

Remember, that she is in the top 1% of athletes in the world. She can do a lot that the rest of us cannot. I slide one hand down the barrel, until I get to the beginning of the fat part. (I call that the pop bottle.) I also hide my hand and wrist completely behind the bat. And, I angle the end of the bat - up. Then, using the knees to go up and down, I want to place the ball on the ground. Let the ball come to the bat. Do not swing the arms.

Every MLB game that I watch , there is a player that holds the bat out horizontally and they continually pop up. I don't find it hard to remember to get the bat head up. My students have been successful, using this method.

 

[marriard]

Here is the Mendoza video - Jessica Mendoza Softball Training - HIT: Bunting : Softball.com - YouTube

Remember, that she is in the top 1% of athletes in the world. She can do a lot that the rest of us cannot. I slide one hand down the barrel, until I get to the beginning of the fat part. (I call that the pop bottle.) I also hide my hand and wrist completely behind the bat. And, I angle the end of the bat - up. Then, using the knees to go up and down, I want to place the ball on the ground. Let the ball come to the bat. Do not swing the arms.

Every MLB game that I watch , there is a player that holds the bat out horizontally and they continually pop up. I don't find it hard to remember to get the bat head up. My students have been successful, using this method.

In addition to this we teach:

- Hold the bat at the top of the strike zone that way any ball over the bat is going to be a ball and you can pull back. It is also easier to bend down than up and keep the ball on the ground. Also with the bat at the top of the zone, this means you only need to bend DOWN - you should never need to go up (unless you have some sort of hit & run/squeeze play on).
- The bottom of the bat is how you control your direction - pull it slightly away from the base line you want to bunt the ball down.
- We teach feet pivot rather than square up.

I also teach our pitchers and catchers that when someone turns to bunt that no matter what pitch was called it now changes to a pitch that is going to be thrown HARD, HIGH and INSIDE. That is a tough pitch to bunt.

 

[Mr T]

Good tips so won't add much except I'm old school so I learned the more common grip. I've heard good things about people who use the thirds grip though, so I would like to try it and would recommend trying it yourself too.

 

[HornetsCoach]

In addition to this we teach:

- We teach feet pivot rather than square up.

QUOTE]

What does that mean? "feet pivot" rather than square up?

 

[Amy in AZ.]

feet pivot - toes rotate towards pitcher. Feet don't move, other than to rotate.

squaring up - right handed batter, you bring your right foot forward, even with the left foot. You are square to the batter.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Here is one of my students, after the pivot. I call this the "off set" method. Her top hand, is what I don't teach, but she plays TB and HS, so maybe I have been over ruled. Wrapping the hand around the bat like that leads to a broken hand, if you are hit by the ball - and you don't even get a base.

 

[marriard]

This is my DD. Bat head is a little too high but you can (just) see the feet are turned, the hand is safely behind the bat, the bat is nicely out in front and she is at a right around the top of the strike zone.

Couple of other things - we move them up in the batter box to give them more fair ground to bunt in.

We tell all our new players - "If you can catch, you can bunt. It is just catching the ball with the bat rather than your glove"

 

[rowdy]

In addition to this we teach:

- We teach feet pivot rather than square up.

QUOTE]

I went to a coaches clinic in Louisiana and they had a coach there teaching "right foot forward" bunting. I had never heard of such a thing but I was there to learn so I gave it a try.

I learned a couple of things upon return.

1. Every player on the team had more success getting the bunt down on their first try with this method than they did using the old method.
2. No matter how fast or how close to them I got I could not get the ball past them. The other part is they put the ball in play on the ground not up in the air.
3. It is almost impossible to get hit by the pitch with this stance. This was the one thing I was worried about but the coach teaching this style at the clinic had the pitching coach throw balls at her and she either hit the ball or got out of the way with ease.

We use this technique for all sacrifice bunts and now have started using it as a base for push bunting as well. The amount of control you have over the bat is great, and you are looking straight at the pitcher which allows you to see the whole field including the charging defenders. Many times we are able to push the ball past the first defender allowing out runner to advance while the batter is able to reach too.

Try it out, you may be like me and find it is a better way.

 

[quincy]

- Hold the bat at the top of the strike zone that way any ball over the bat is going to be a ball and you can pull back. It is also easier to bend down than up and keep the ball on the ground. Also with the bat at the top of the zone, this means you only need to bend DOWN - you should never need to go up (unless you have some sort of hit & run/squeeze play on).

We teach this also.

Just an FYI if you teach this the bat’s knob is going to be lower than the barrel, like Marriard’s DD. The bat cannot start at the top of the zone and remain horizontal.