Sacrifice Bunts

[Sox 42]

Back in the day with runners on first and second with no outs, a bunt to move the runners was a frequent call.  Understand if your best guy is up you usually don't; but Gonzalez is not our best guy and he struck out.  Concerning yesterday - Imagine that instead of a double the Pirates had hit into a double play.  Just saying I like to dream.

[mvp 78]

I looked it up, the amount of bunts have not dramatically decreased as much as you think it has. You can find the stat on bref.

[moonslav59]

I pretty much hate all Sacrifices, especially human ones.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Sacrifice bunts (officially called sacrifice hits) are going out of style, but I have a theory why.

In ancient times, when batters choked up and made contact with dead balls, it made sense to bunt runners into scoring position, because guys with bat control could be trusted to poke a grounder to the right side and plate the run.

Nowadays, however, bunting a runner to 3rd base doesn't guarantee anything. If you're a Red Sox fan of the second-best statistical offense in baseball, it's more likely the next two batters will strike out, thus rendering the sac bunt as a wasted out.

Teams like Boston would just rather let three hitters swing from the heels and hope one of them will connect with an RBI knock. Three outs gives them better odds than two outs.

Correlations, with a few MLB season stats for the average team -- starting with 1954, when sacrifice flies were officially counted, separate from sac bunts (in case there was any confusion):

1954    sh 83   Ks 638

1968         75        957

2004        58      1061

2024         15      1373

[Bellhorn04]

Great sacrifice bunts in Red Sox history - anybody remember any?

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Great sacrifice bunts in Red Sox history - anybody remember any?

The 12 made by the '04 Sox. 

The following sacrificed themselves to the baseball gods so that Boston could end a century-old curse and have the greatest comeback in history vs. the New York Chokees along the way:

Pokey Reese -- 6 times -- which gave him the mojo to make the final play that won the pennant in the Bronx, and also allow him to be on the field for the final out of the World Series in St. Louis.

Others who also sacrificed themselves once each for an opportunity to play in that historic title game: Derek Lowe, Bronson Arroyo, Orlando Cabrera, Gabe Kapler and Mark Bellhorn.

One other sacrificed himself once during the season, so he could have the most memorable non-hitting moment of any position player in Red Sox history -- Dave Roberts.

[Bellhorn04]

I'll have to check the video again but I think Bill Mueller showed bunt on the pitch right before the biggest RBI in franchise history.