Bunt coverage

[4dds]

How many bunt coverages do you teach? The last couple years everyone I have been an assistant to likes to teach 2 different ones. Runner on 1b stays put and pitcher covers the 1b line. I’m thinking about ditching the second coverage and sticking to just one. What’s your thoughts.


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[Strike2]

Nothing wrong with two, one of those being 1B stays back. If you have a nimble pitcher, you have one less moving part to screw up the play. Depending on who your 1B is, she may be ineffective or even a liability while crashing.

 

[robertc3]

The number totally depends on the age of the players. 10u, one is enough. 18u could be three or four.

 

[canyonjoe]

You are better off being able to execute 1 versus being terrible at 3. It's nice to have a couple of options but only if you can execute.

At 10U unless you have a good F4 you are better off leaving F3 back in my opinion.

 

[Eric F]

Nothing wrong with two, one of those being 1B stays back. If you have a nimble pitcher, you have one less moving part to screw up the play. Depending on who your 1B is, she may be ineffective or even a liability while crashing.

Absolutely. If F1 isn't an effective fielder, she should only handle the ball if it comes directly to her before another player can get it. Likewise, if you have a slow F3, you might be better off with F1 covering that side of the field. If both are slow, you're toast - LOL.

An important part of bunt coverage is what happens with players who are not fielding the ball. For example, if F5 charges and fields the ball, who covers 3B? Even in 14U TB, I see 3B left unprotected a lot. Our lead-off batter has taken advantage of that more times than I can count. In that situation, I like F2 to get there because she's already moving that way towards the ball.

 

[_MIA_]

An important part of bunt coverage is what happens with players who are not fielding the ball. For example, if F5 charges and fields the ball, who covers 3B? Even in 14U TB, I see 3B left unprotected a lot. Our lead-off batter has taken advantage of that more times than I can count. In that situation, I like F2 to get there because she's already moving that way towards the ball.

DD's team has F7 cover..of course that only happens when she remembers to which is about 10% of the time
Plus it is 10U so they are not playing as deep..F2 might be a better option as they get older (plus F2 would be better at handling
throws to bases than F7 in theory)

 

[erniekru]

I really like the way our team does it. F1/F5 crash. F4 covers 1B, F2 covers 3B when runner on 1B. Pitcher only fields the ball in the circle or really really close to it.

 

[badmonkey]

At 10U we had great results with corners crashing, and F6&F4 covering the corners, and F8 covering 2nd.

One play, all bases covered every time, so you don't need them to understand the situation as deeply.

That may not be practical when they get older and the outfield starts playing deeper, though.

 

[Sweet Lou]

14U we worked on 3 different bunt coverages this summer but in games we typically only used one of them. And yes we relied on either F7 to cover 3rd or F8 to cover 2nd depending on SS responsibilities depending on where runners were. Getting the OF to actually cover was sometimes a chore.

Bunt coverage 1 the 1B stayed home.
Bunt coverage 2 both corners crashed - this was the one that was our "standard" bunt coverage.
Bunt coverage 3 the 3B stayed home - this was designed for late in games with 1st and 2nd and we wanted to get the force at 3rd on the bunt. P was responsible for fielding balls on 3rd base line.

 

[Eric F]

14U we worked on 3 different bunt coverages this summer but in games we typically only used one of them. And yes we relied on either F7 to cover 3rd or F8 to cover 2nd depending on SS responsibilities depending on where runners were. Getting the OF to actually cover was sometimes a chore.

Bunt coverage 1 the 1B stayed home.
Bunt coverage 2 both corners crashed - this was the one that was our "standard" bunt coverage.
Bunt coverage 3 the 3B stayed home - this was designed for late in games with 1st and 2nd and we wanted to get the force at 3rd on the bunt. P was responsible for fielding balls on 3rd base line.

I don't like using F7 or F8 for primary coverage because it invites catastrophes if someone makes a mistake. At 14U+, overthrown balls roll a long way. F6 at 2B, and F2 or F5 at 3B (depending on who fields the ball) maintains your backup.