Baseball Coaching Tips: Should You Bunt Or Swing Away?

Larry Cicchiello

This baseball coaching decision is a second guesser's delight. Read how to make it easier. Along with when to take a baseball pitcher out or leave him in the game, this ranks right up there with the toughest decisions anyone involved in baseball coaching has to make. Let's make the decision easier.

There are many things to think about when deciding if a baseball team should go for the big inning or bunt and sacrifice an out to advance a runner with a sacrifice bunt. A lot of it depends on what type of game it is and how late in the game it is. It also depends on the pitcher that your own team has on the mound. If you have a pitcher who is "mowing them down," a one run lead may be like a five run lead. With a real good pitcher, one run can be considered a big inning. On the other hand, if your pitcher has been struggling, playing for one run may not be in your best interest. The one run that either ties the game up or puts your team ahead may not hold up. If you have a batter that's followed by two very weak hitters, you might be better off having the player at bat not bunt, because of the weaker hitters that follow. Hey, this is what makes baseball coaching difficult!

Times You Should Consider Bunting: 1) You can bunt at just about any time during a game. A hitter should always take a peek at the third baseman. I'm a big believer in taking whatever is given to you on the baseball field. If you see a third baseman is playing seven steps behind third base, you should seriously consider a bunt down the third base line. Just try your best to make sure that the third baseman fields the bunt and not the pitcher or the catcher. 2) Let's say it's late in the game and you have a man on second base with nobody out. If you have a right-handed hitter up who is a dead pull hitter, you might strongly consider having him bunt the runner to third base. Being he's a right-handed pull hitter, he may very well hit a grounder on the left side of the infield which would prevent the runner going to third base with less than two outs. 3) If a batter has trouble against a particular pitcher. If your batter is a good hitter but has a terrible past performance against their pitcher, the bunt should be strongly considered. A tough call is should you sacrifice bunt if you are the visiting team and are trailing by a run in the top of the last inning? One of many baseball coaching tips is that the "book" says you don't play for the tie on the road. I think we should forget about what "the book" says on this one. If your bullpen is far superior to the other team's bullpen, you should not hesitate at all to play for the tie, even though you're the visiting team. You should gladly take your chances late in a game that's all tied up if you have a stronger bull pen. Why not? Forget what the "book" says and besides, I don't even know who wrote "the book!"