The lack of strategic hitting in baseball drives me nuts.

[MarathonMike]

Here is the scenario, this just happened today. Last inning, you are down 2 runs. You have a runner on third with two outs. The infield is shifted so the infield is completely open from 3rd base to second base. Any major league hitter can bunt into an area that wide. You score the run, you are now down 1 with the tying run on base. What did they do? Swing away, try to hit a home run, fly out, game over.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Here is the scenario, this just happened today. Last inning, you are down 2 runs. You have a runner on third with two outs. The infield is shifted so the infield is completely open from 3rd base to second base. Any major league hitter can bunt into an area that wide. You score the run, you are now down 1 with the tying run on base. What did they do? Swing away, try to hit a home run, fly out, game over.

still watching those guys are you?...

 

[MarathonMike]

still watching those guys are you?...

Football no. Basketball no. Baseball yes. Golf yes. Any relevant comment to the topic?

 

[Harry Dresden]

still watching those guys are you?...

Football no. Basketball no. Baseball yes. Golf yes. Any relevant comment to the topic?

that was a relevant comment.....

 

[my2¢]

Not knowing the complete details I'm guessing that if the guy could bunt worth a darn then opposing teams wouldn't put on the shift.

 

[StormAl]

Small ball is pretty gone since the emergence of baseball management willing to take .240 hitters with 30 to 35 homers a year to quick .300 hitters with lighter power.

Also, as my2c pointed out, the batter may have been very poor bunter. I was a good hitter, but if I had to bunt, my feet were in danger.

 

[$ecular#eckler]

John Sterling for the Yankees always complains about the lack of batting strategy. A couple of times he has gotten irrate.

 

[MarathonMike]

that was a relevant comment.....

Small ball is pretty gone since the emergence of baseball management willing to take .240 hitters with 30 to 35 homers a year to quick .300 hitters with lighter power.

Also, as my2c pointed out, the batter may have been very poor bunter. I was a good hitter, but if I had to bunt, my feet were in danger.

You would of course as the manager insure the batter was a good bunter in that situation, bringing in a pinch hitter if necessary.

 

[22lcidw]

How many are old enough to hear the coach in practice over and over..."Two Hands"! Today players put the glove up a tenth of a second before the ball arrives to them an use one hand all to often.

 

[StormAl]

A ten year old is not Willie Mays or Ronald Acuna.

 

[DGS49]

The basic hitting philosophy has done a one-eighty since the days when Charlie Lau was the most respected batting coach in baseball...teaching players to hit line drives and hard ground balls up the middle. Now, everyone swings for a high fly ball, hopefully over the wall. The belief is that this results in more runs overall, even though batting averages are down and strikeouts are at unprecedented levels.

I agree one hundred percent with the OP that it is exasperating in the extreme to see a team piss away a two-on, nobody out situation and get zero runs to show for it, simply because they refused to just put the bat on the ball and hit a well-placed grounder.

On a related note, the pinching-in of 2B and SS to take away the line drive single up the middle is a sad development, punishing hitters (e.g., the late Albert Pujols) who are hitting properly. Of course, hitters should be flexible enough to defeat this strategy, at least on occasion.