WHY is pinching the bat, for lack of a better term, not the "best practice"...other than you believe it to be so? Do we really know that baseball players are really that poor at bunting? Most attempts that I see at the pro level are successful, and are often executed by pitchers, who don't often hit well. Try getting hit on the fingers by a 62mph softball; you won't be playing again for a long while.
Bunting hand position
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WHY is pinching the bat, for lack of a better term, not the "best practice"...other than you believe it to be so? Do we really know that baseball players are really that poor at bunting? Most attempts that I see at the pro level are successful, and are often executed by pitchers, who don't often hit well. Try getting hit on the fingers by a 62mph softball; you won't be playing again for a long while.
- May 17, 2012
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Most attempts are successful at the pro level? Try a 50% success rate on simply putting a ball in play on a bunt. I am not even talking about a good bunt...just putting the ball in play while bunting. If that is what you are aspiring to keep teaching that crappy technique. Yes we know this for a FACT.
I am just suggesting a technique that I use (and other high level teams use....I sure as hell didn't invent it). It has helped with our bunting success rate and my players prefer it over the 1950's style of bunting. Again no one has EVER had their fingers smashed...or lost an eye ball....or been struck by lightning while doing it this way (that I know of).
You haven't actually provided any actual evidence here.
Yes, about 50% of bunts in Major League Baseball are fair. Putting aside that it's absurd to say a fouled bunt is a failure unless you're doing it with two strikes, how often do high-level softball players who use a different technique bunt the ball fair?
And then, of course, we're combining all types of bunts, and we shouldn't. How many of those fouled bunt attempts were actually attempts to bunt for a hit? My guess is that most non-pitcher bunt attempts are of that variety, because baseball finally learned that the sac bunt is usually a f#$^! stupid idea. And I think we can all agree that bunting for a hit is more difficult (it really is, but I guess we don't have to agree about that).
And, you know, maybe bunting a baseball is harder than bunting a softball. I don't know. Maybe it's easier or exactly the same. But that's an important variable, I think.
I'm not even saying the method you suggest is wrong. You certainly a have a lot less control over the bat having your top hand that far toward the handle, but I've seen plenty of successful bunts that way. It absolutely might be better. But an appeal to authority (while simultaneously denouncing authority, a clever trick!) is a logical fallacy.
So not only has the hypothesis that softball players are better bunters not been proven, we haven't come close to identifying the way the bat is held as the reason why.
@Lighting. At the risk of having my DD's technique called crappy by other DFP members, I'll get some video at her clinic next week to share with you. This is what works for her, not judging how others teach it or how other 'high-level' teams do it.
For what it's worth, her coach was a D1 slapper/bunter at a very strong program. She's now the slapping/bunting coach at another D1 program that has 9 of their roster slapping/bunting and she holds weekly clinics of which my DD goes to. It seems to work for them.
Bunting is like putting. It's more about touch, focus, and mental approach rather than how you hold the club or your stance.
For what it's worth, her coach was a D1 slapper/bunter at a very strong program. She's now the slapping/bunting coach at another D1 program that has 9 of their roster slapping/bunting and she holds weekly clinics of which my DD goes to. It seems to work for them.
Bunting is like putting. It's more about touch, focus, and mental approach rather than how you hold the club or your stance.
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I actually teach the same technique GunnerShotgun does. Been doing it for years, and my players have had a lot of success doing it, just as he described. I started doing it after watching how the majority of players were bunting in the WCWS. Also after watching the bat deflect and the ball go foul when my hitters were using a pinch technique.
As for why the pinch technique is sub-optimal for softball (in my opinion) it has to do with mass and strength. A softball is heavier/has a greater mass than a baseball. A softball bat is generally lighter in weight than a baseball bat, so the differential in the moving object and the object doing the "receiving" of that force is greater in baseball than in softball. Think about hitting two drumsticks together versus a branch and a twig. The baseball bat is less likely to "give" when struck by the baseball, even if you're pinching it.
Now consider the different in hand strength between a comparable male and female player (generally; I know there are exceptions). The male is likely to have more hand strength, and thus can keep the heavier bat in place more easily when it is struck with the lighter ball.
Add all those factors together and it suggests that using a full grip on the bat is likely to work better for a fastpitch softball player than the pinch technique.
And incidentally, in nearly 20 years of teaching this technique, I've never had a player's fingers get smashed. If you're trying to use the end of the bat rather than the sweet spot to receive the ball, as you should, you won't have your hands hanging anywhere near the strike zone. They will be half a bat away.
That's cool. I believe there is more than one way to do most things on a ball field. As a coach, I don't get wadded up when a player does something in a way that I wouldn't teach when it's obvious that what they're doing is effective.
While your discussion about the forces on a softball vs baseball bat has some merit, I believe that other aspects of bunting technique play a larger role in success or failure than top-hand finger position. I taught my kid a technique that doesn't put her top-hand fingers between the ball and bat, and she's plenty effective in putting a bunt down, as in one of the best regardless of which team she's on. If she ever faces a pitch velocity that is knocking the bat out of her top hand, I'll reevaluate.
While I enjoy discussions of the various techniques, I do grow tired about proclamations about some method being the "best practice" because that's the way some "higher level team" does it.
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I think that there are several methods that work for holding the bat. Some use both hands together, other pinch others wrap. You can get all hung up on that, but the key to being good at bunting is making sure you get the bat out in front. If you do that you will almost always keep it fair. It takes some skill to deaden where you want, but once you learn how to commit to the bunt you can try some different grips. I am amazed at how many hitters on our 18U team really can't bunt.
- May 17, 2012
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As a coach you are obligated to seek out best practices and teach them to your players. That's what a good coach does. Never quit learning, you owe it to your players.
The comment about how high level teams and players do things is important. The stakes are large at the highest levels as the pressure to win and be successful is huge. BS gets filtered out quickly.
