In Major League Baseball, the numbers are clear. Using sacrifice bunts to advance runners to second or third base actually decreases run expectancy, and the rise of analytics and increase in overall pitch velocity generally has coincided with significantly fewer bunts in the modern-day MLB.
In 14 postseason games en route to winning last year’s World Series, Boston Red Sox position players compiled 563 plate appearances. Two were bunts.
But in high school baseball — for the teams that still use the practice religiously — bunting is alive and well.
Larry Tuttle, who is in his 52nd year coaching Blissfield High School, has helped lead the Royals to 11 state semifinal berths in Michigan and seven state championships. To this day, Tuttle’s teams — notorious for wreaking havoc with so-called small ball — still bunt every day in practice.
His basic philosophy: If a player can’t bunt or move a runner, he’s not going to be in the lineup.
“It sounds crazy, but they’ve got to be able to move the ball, because in any level of ball, good pitching is going to shut down good hitting,” Tuttle said. “In high school ball, you can apply a lot of pressure to teams defensively with the use of the bunt. We do it a lot, probably more than most teams we face.”
For the most part, bunts at the highest level of baseball are limited to National League pitchers and fleet-footed position players who can drop down a bunt for a hit.
But in high school, the bunt still can be a chaos-creating spark that swings a game — provided it’s done correctly.
Few prep teams can live on home runs, and contact hitting still is the main method for many programs.
“Any time you can put the ball in play at our level, you’re putting pressure on the defense,” longtime St. Francis de Sales coach Tim Gerken said. “That’s the big thing: Making them [get] you out. In my opinion, if you can put the ball in play, you’re going to be successful.”
The bunt still is a staple for many high school teams for several reasons.
First is the higher frequency of errors and lessened range of players. As Tuttle said, there are a lot of places where a bunt can start a defensive fire, whether it’s a third baseman being forced into a difficult play, a pitcher rushing a throw off the flat ground, a bunt hit swinging a tight game, or a shifting defense that allows for runners to take extra bases with a new-found diversion.
Second is the strikeout. Last season, MLB players struck out more than ever before.
In high school, the strikeout still is taboo. At Anthony Wayne, the offensive number coach Mark Nell watches more than any other is not batting average or runs batted in, but strikeout percentage.
The Generals aim for a team-wide strikeout percentage in just five percent of plate appearances, because it’s the worst possible outcome in high school, Nell said.
“Striking out makes me sick,” Nell said.
Nell, who has been the coach at Anthony Wayne since 2001, said three-run home runs are nice, sure, but winning at the high school level largely is about putting the ball in play.
“Oh, gosh, you have to do it,” Nell said. “We always talk about our strikeout ratio and how much we’re putting the ball in play. Somebody has to field the ball and throw the ball, and somebody has to catch the ball. That’s three things for a team to do and, especially with the ball on the ground, it puts tremendous pressure on the defense. It’s huge.”
The Knights have long been known for their aggressiveness on the basepaths. This season, they’ve stolen 42 bases in 48 tries and attempted 10 bunts, four of them on squeeze plays with a runner on third.
St. Francis won the outright Three Rivers Athletic Conference title because of a squeeze play in 2016. In a win Monday against Findlay, the Knights twice used a squeeze bunt in the middle of their order. Both were successful, and one of them led to two runs.
Gerken said the threat of bunting can change games to the Knights’ benefit.
“I think you [can] put pressure [on] the other dugout immensely,” he said. “We see it all the time, whether it be their defensive alignment or they’re throwing more fastballs than they’d like to or whatever. We definitely apply a lot of pressure.”
Similarly, Tuttle said he estimates the Royals use a squeeze play upwards of 40 percent or 50 percent of the time with a runner on third.
Further, he said the practice of bunting can turn a lineup’s weakest hitter into a weapon.
“If I’ve got a kid who’s hitting .150 and the other pitcher is throwing it pretty well, I’ll bunt the ball just to put it in play,” Tuttle said. “I’d rather the defense have to make a play on him than have to watch that third strike or swing and miss go by.”
Bunting might draw fierce debate in pro baseball, but the numbers certainly side with those who say the practice is a bad idea.
But in high school, it’s still in the arsenal of winning teams. Tuttle, Gerken, and Nell said their teams use bunting aggressively.
With runners on second and third, it’s possible that any of them drops down a bunt looking for a run — and usually two.
“To me, it’s one of the most exciting plays in baseball, and it’s a dagger to the other team to give up two runs on a bunt,” Nell said. “It’s an easy thing to learn, but the bunt is a weapon if you do it right.”
First Published April 19, 2019, 4:00 p.m.