I was listening to the television broadcast of Tuesday night’s Braves/Red Sox game, and in the top of the 6th with rookie sensation Michael Harris II (aka MH2) at the plate with one out and a runner on first it was suggested by a member of the Braves’ broadcast team (who shall not be named) that it’d be a great time to lay down a bunt to 3rd.
It’s not uncommon for our dear radio or TV broadcast teams to articulate their desire for baseball to be played like the days gone by or how small ball wins games etc. But it struck me that I honestly couldn’t remember the last time the Braves had bunted this season OR **if they had bunted AT ALL**!
Spoiler below if you wanna know!
Links provided below, and I also emailed the gang at r/effectivelywild who shared the Baseball Savant data with me. Great show!
>!The Braves have only bunted 3 times all season (dead last in attempts), only once did it result in a hit. And 0 attempts at bunting were sacrifice attempts. !<
[Baseball Savant data for bunts.](https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/statcast_search?hfPT=&hfAB=&hfGT=R%7C&hfPR=&hfZ=&stadium=&hfBBL=&hfNewZones=&hfPull=&hfC=&hfSea=2022%7C&hfSit=&player_type=batter&hfOuts=&opponent=&pitcher_throws=&batter_stands=&hfSA=&game_date_gt=&game_date_lt=&hfMo=&team=&home_road=&hfRO=&position=&hfInfield=&hfOutfield=&hfInn=&hfBBT=&hfFlag=is%5C.%5C.bunt%7C&metric_1=&group_by=team&min_pitches=0&min_results=0&min_pas=0&sort_col=pitches&player_event_sort=api_p_release_speed&sort_order=asc#results)
[Fangraphs data on Team BUH (Bunts for Hit) and BUH % (hits/attempts).](https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=2&season=2022&month=0&season1=2022&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2022-01-01&enddate=2022-12-31&sort=11,d)
[Fangraphs data on Player BUH/BUH%](https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=2&season=2022&month=0&season1=2022&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2022-01-01&enddate=2022-12-31&sort=11,d)
5 comments
“Yeah I don’t think we practice that anymore.”
I remember hearing last year that someone on staff is a “numbers guy” and that they are wholly against bunting in general because of the low conversion rate
One of those was an extra inning game and we got thrown out at third because it was a bad bunt. I believe it was Arcia who has two walk off hits this year. Not worth it let them swing
I am like 99% Arcia bunted in extra innings against SD for a sac attempt and bunted it right back at the pitcher and Contreras got thrown out at 3rd.
> The Braves have only bunted 3 times all season (dead last in attempts), only once did it result in a hit.
It’s an incredibly low sample size but .333 is still .333.