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A bunt is a batting technique in baseball or fastpitch softball. Official Baseball Rules define a bunt as follows: "A bunt is a batted ball not swung at, but intentionally met with the bat and tapped slowly within the infield." To bunt, the batter loosely holds the bat in front of home plate and intentionally taps the ball into play.
Cincinnati Reds outfielder Bubba Thompson squares up to bunt in the eighth inning during a MLB spring training baseball game, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Ariz.
Defenses generally do not attempt the wheel play in bunt situations where the batter is deemed a good enough hitter to be able to execute a slash bunt. Instead, the infielders will hold their positions, and the defense will rely on the pitcher or catcher to field the ball, and concede an advancement of the runner at second base to third base if ...
Such a bunt is most common with one out. [1] According to Baseball Almanac, the squeeze play was invented in 1894 by George Case and Dutch Carter during a college game at Yale University. [2] In a safety squeeze, the runner at third takes a lead, but does not run towards home plate until the batter makes contact bunting. A play at home plate is ...
To execute slap bunting, the player is almost always in the back of the left-hand side of home plate, feet slightly open to right field, and choked up slightly on the bat. The moment the pitch is released from the pitcher's hand, the player must rotate his hips toward the pitcher and then cross his back (left) foot over his front foot, moving ...
The player at the plate must also lay down a quality bunt. That is, the player must lay down a bunt that does not pop up, go foul, or go straight to a fielder. Even if all goes well, if the sacrifice bunt is successful, the team must still get a hit to score the runner, and they now have 2 outs remaining instead of three. [5] [6]
Speedy runners also bunt for base hits when infielders are playing back. In such a situation, left-handed hitters may use a drag bunt, in which they start stepping towards first base while completing the bunt swing. Even the great slugger Mickey Mantle would drag bunt once in a while, taking advantage of his 3.1 second speed from home to first ...
With baserunners on first and second bases, sometimes the shortstop will cover third base on a bunt, a coverage plan known as the "rotation play" or "wheelplay." This occurs if the batter bunts the ball toward third base so that the third baseman cannot cover third base because he is moving forward to field the ball.