re: BUNTING basics for Lester

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you take the 3 points

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Every one always assumes the conventional strategy works, what if he misses the FG?

In the scenario you laid out I would think the analytics say kick because as you said it gives you a 3 score lead. If they were up by 10 then going for it makes more sense 2 TDS can beat you up 13 same as 10 so better to make it 17

Over the last 3 MLB seasons, 15% of Sac bunt attempts were spoiled by popout, strike out, or FC(lead runner out).

that isn't counting the batting outcomes that choose to hit away starting in a 2 strike hole after failed bunt attempts.

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There really is no justification for this as a smart decision for anyone who knows baseball

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There’s plenty but you choose to ignore it. It’s situational but you want to compare it to scenarios that are unlike last nights

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Who gives a shite. This was an off game in college with cold weather and Jay chose to bunt to get runners over to get a run in. Nobody cares about the MLB in college baseball thread. It’s not even comparable

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Sources: Trust Me Bro

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If the intent was simply to practice bunting, well, this thread doesn’t get to 4 pages. Sadly, people still think this was a viable strategy at that point of the game.

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Bunting in that situation is not a percentage play.

I’m not anti-bunt, but in that situation I am surprised the coach called for it. I’d hope a reporter would ask him about his thinking. I’d be surprised if he didn’t have a good answer.

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In a game where teams were given a combined 54 outs and only 6 total runs were scored, which was more precious - a run or an out?

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I understand your point. But if we swing away there and he hits a double down the line—or a multitude of other things—maybe we bust the game open that inning more than 6 total runs would have scored.

It wound up working and we scored a win a close game. So a lot of folks in here who are results driven think that justified the decision. And maybe it does.

I—and Lester—are talking more about the theory of bunting there and what the analytics say is most likely to be beneficial. But since we don’t know what would have happened had we not bunted, that’s all we can point to. I just know how much our philosophy changed in high level (5A) baseball and college. I can still hear my coaches yelling to the pitchers “if they want to give us an out, fricking take it.” And we practiced defending it so much that it was hard to lay one down that moved the runners. It usually ended up with runners standing on the same bases, just either different runners with another out or the “bunter” popping up to a corner infielder, striking out by bunting the 3rd strike foul, or them taking the bunt off with 2 strikes because he couldn’t get it down.

In general, I just hate bunting. I think it rarely is the better statistical play. But again, I didn’t watch that part of the game yesterday, so I’m not prepared to die on that particular hill. Just speaking philosophically.

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I am typically anti-bunt in most situations, but for me it's specific to who is at the plate. First off can the guy bunt - if you are asking a guy who rarely bunts and if and when he does is not very good at it - it's not advisable.

Secondly, what is the players hitting profile? Does he hit a lot of ground balls, is he a fly ball hitter, does he give you a lot of slug, all those things factor in. If he's one of my best hitters, I don't want to waste an out having him bunt.

Now if he's one of my weakest hitters who hits the ball on the ground a lot when he makes contact, but is a capable bunter and it's first and second and no outs - then I would consider it based on the context of the game - the score, the flow of the game, etc.

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I agree with all this. But there will be arguments on here where there’s a runner on 2nd and no outs and guys are yelling for the bunt. Of a guy is good enough to be in this LSU lineup, I want him trying to hit the ball behind the runner where a hit can sneak in rather than giving the team an easy out. Make them make a play. I think it’s probably a 99% chance, I personally wouldn’t bunt there. But if the guy strikes out or pops up and the runner is still at 2nd, then the folks yelling for the bunt will think they were justified based on the result. I am talking about the decision making, not the result.

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Nothing valuable about a strategy that actually hurts your team like bunting

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Yeah ask the Astros for decades when facing the Cards dumbass. Ask Morgan and LSU vs Wake Forest just 2 seasons ago. Ask every single LSU fan on this shitty sight that bitches about the west coast teams like UCLA when they got their asses handed to them in California by the “small ball” teams. fricking idiots don’t understand how having more tools in your tool box MATTERS.

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Yeah ask the Astros for decades when facing the Cards dumbass.

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The Astro's had 12 sacrifice bunts last year in 161 games. They sacrifice bunted once every 13.5 games.