Is bunting considered "old softball"

[NBECoach]

I ran into a former HS player at a tournament who graduated from a Big 10 school this year. She had just gotten a job at a midwest college as an assistant coach. We spoke for several minutes on the state of our HS program, and game strategy we play. Near the end of our conversation she flat out said "and don't waste outs bunting".

I've always believed in small ball as a weapon. Is this now considered "old softball"?

 

[The Man In Blue]

I still believe bunting is a very effective weapon, particularly at younger levels.

My guess is as talent and ability advance, coaches abandon bunting in favor of slap hitting. Or, since she said "waste outs", she may have been referring to coaches who predictably resort to sacrifice bunting to move a runner when it is not necessary (I see that quite a bit).

 

[radness]

Strategies are not all the same.
People have different philosophies of approaching how to run/coach the game.

Bunting/small ball continues because its a strategy!
That has many uses AND reasons to use.

 

[quincy]

When I was HC in baseball everyone knew how to bunt but we never bunted in a game.

In SB at 14U we had players bunt 2 pitches then swing away. 1 player said she did not know how. She has been playing softball for 5 or 6 years and does not know how to bunt? Shame on her previous coaches.

It is a weapon in your bag, need to be able to use it if you want to.

 

[Top_Notch]

DD plays 14U A level. Her team bunted a lot. They were mostly successful with it too. I thought it to be a great way of pressuring the defense and also moving runners. They bunted a lot for hits, too, so it was never an "automatic" or wasted out. Surprisingly, we bunted more that almost every team we played. The team was successful (wins) as well. I also noted that the top level teams could always lay down a bunt when needed.

 

[radness]

Is it easier to create/teach/be a reliable bunter?!!!!

imo
Its a skillset every player should have.
On the worst hitting day, week, month ever...
We can still put the ball in play!

 

[NBECoach]

I've always bunted a lot especially with players who had a difficult time hitting.

It sure beats 3 strikes and back to the bench.

 

[quincy]

Doesn't really apply but DD's finger got fractured by being hit by a pitch. Doctor said she could play if she could stand the pain.

She keep jumping out of the box so we had her bunt for a little bit. Hard to jump out of the box when you are bunting.

 

[Tatonka]

Or, since she said "waste outs", she may have been referring to coaches who predictably resort to sacrifice bunting to move a runner when it is not necessary (I see that quite a bit).

^^^^^This^^^^^^

 

[GunnerShotgun]

I've always believed in small ball as a weapon. Is this now considered "old softball"?

It's not "old softball" it's just bad math. At no point are you better off after bunting from a run expectancy point of view.

Does that mean that you shouldn't bunt ever? No there are clearly some outliers where you may want to bunt in a game.

Sure you can bunt against average or weaker teams but if you are playing a real team you are just wasting outs. The math has been done on this.