Sacrificing

Bunting and sacrifice bunting are two different animals and should not be confused. Personally if my leadoff hitter gets a single I want my to hold to get a cut and drop it into the Outfield so my baserunner can stand up into third. 1, 2, and 3 hole batters need to be contact hitters with no strikeouts

One of the main points about playing on a *team* is to learn that a player has to do things she might not like to do because it helps the team. The player does these things because they help the team.

As to bunting: A parent could be proud of their child's accomplishments at a team player. Or, the parent can whine about their kid not being allowed to be the star. It depends a lot on perspective. (I suggest reading "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl.)

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Generally:

1) It is a waste of time to try to second guess a MS head coach. You can't switch teams. The school is not going to fire the HC because you don't want your DD bunting.
2) If she gets moved down in the batting order, she will get fewer at-bats.
3) If you want your DD to learn how to hit, get her on a travel team.

To the original post...I take it your questions are...How valuable is a good bunter to a travel team? Is she limiting herself by being pigeon-holed into this role somewhat?

My opinions...as you get older you expect everyone to be able to bunt when the team needs it. There is certainly value in girls that can bunt for a hit, but this gets tougher and tougher as they age...especially for right handed batters. So, there is value...but versatility is required. I would be concerned that her coaches are often having her bunt because they lack confidence in her ability to hit. IF she is going to stay a righty batter only...she should work on her full swing. You can certainly let people know that she is a good bunter and she does well bunting for a hit because of her speed...but this must only come across as a part of her skillset. If she has above average speed...or maybe well above average...I wouldn't hesitate to give slapping a try. IMO learning to take a normal swing as a lefty can be harder than learning the slapper footwork and drag bunting. And the full swing feels more awkward. IMO the full swing is not the right place to start. I would start with the footwork...then bunting (drag bunt)...then maybe slug bunting or pushing the bunt passed the first level of infielders. Not saying you should change her...just consider it if she is a real burner and not hitting well from the right side. I really like this series of videos to learn about it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY9VOqbZHKc&t=639s

625ender said:

Bunting and sacrifice bunting are two different animals and should not be confused. Personally if my leadoff hitter gets a single I want my to hold to get a cut and drop it into the Outfield so my baserunner can stand up into third. 1, 2, and 3 hole batters need to be contact hitters with no strikeouts

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If my leadoff hitter gets on the #2 will get a swing to do something. If the pitcher is struggling she may get a few more pitches to look at. If she can't get the job done then she is bunting. Even with 2 strikes. I will give up an out to move the runner to 2nd giving my 3-4 hitters a shot at dong something.

If the leadoff ends up on 2nd base with no outs. I'm more likely to bunt the #2 hitter.

Watching the Cubs and Dodgers play. Both teams are not afraid to put the ball down. Even at the MLB level is causes confusion and forces errors.

On her MS team, the lead off batter was very fast - she'd usually be able to steal 2nd and then DD would do a good bunt and lead-off would be able to score a run off that bunt. So DD got a lot of RBIs that way.

And in her rec league - yes, a lot of the times, the teams don't practice bunt defense so it can be quite easy to get on based on that Our team is guilty of that as well.

nixxy311 said:

her good hits can usually make it to the outfield but I would not say she's a real power hitter.

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If her "good hits" are "usually making it to the outfield" that may explain why she's bunting so much. If most of the balls she hits are grounders and pop ups then bunting is probably a more effective way of moving runners and getting your DD on base. Whether this is how a coach should stress player development in a rec league is a different question. Swinging away more frequently would help her get better.

nixxy311 said:

Her hitting coach did test her hitting left but her swing is all weird. She has good power hitting with her left, but it would take some work.

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A few swings from the left that look awkward isn't a fair test. How many thousands of swings has she taken from the right side, building and adjusting muscle memory patterns? How much instruction has she gotten on fine-tuning the small details of that swing? Do you (or the hitting instructor) expect that moving her to the left side, she will immediately have a comparable swing? Her body has to figure out how to activate muscles in a COMPLETELY different order. It's reasonable to expect that it's going to look "weird" for a while. How well can you throw a ball with your opposite hand? Do a few throws, 10, 20, 50. I bet it feels pretty awkward. If you actually want to switch her over to the left side, it will come along fairly quickly, but you need to give her a fair chance so get it sorted out.

I am a fan of the bunt and sacrifice bunting. It is another weapon. It has a place in an offense and it makes the defense have to honor it. I understand that some people aren't supporters of this concept. As an anecdote, I've been a part of a couple of state championship teams and a state runner up. Those state championships were achieved due to timely hitting and critical bunts.

I would not worry about MS ball much, it is what it is. But make sure you teach her how to hit the ball and if she wants to play competitively, get her on a travel ball team. DD played for years with a lefty batter who is very fast (2.75 home to 1st) and the coaches would have her bunt almost every time to get her on base. While it was a good strategy to produce runs and win games, in the long run she struggled with swinging away and as she moved up to 14U/16U set her back several seasons learning how to properly slap/drive the ball out of the infield. Be careful your DD doesn't become a one trick pony?

At 12u, my dd batted 2nd and bunted often. At the time she wasn't a good hitter, but she was very good at bunting. Could get one down when asked, and usually ended up with a hit. It was a bit aggrevating to see her bunting so much, but she kept the line moving. Fast forward a couple of years and a heck of a lot of cage work, she made the varsity team as a freshman, bats 3rd, and never was asked to bunt all year. Bunting ain't a bad thing, keep working, just something else to add to the arsenal.