Different Kinds of Bunts in Baseball and How to Do Them Properly

Filed under Hitting by on June 19, 2011 at 11:54 {no comments}

When first learning the sport of baseball, you typically learn that there are two kinds of bunts: sacrifice bunts, and bunts for a base hit. In fact, there are more kinds of bunts than only those two. I like to call these kinds of bunts specialty bunts, simply because they’re only used in certain situations if a player believes it is necessary. Most of these bunts are not as easy to accomplish than the conventional bunt, but if you execute it correctly, it could possibly pay off big time. These types of bunts are normally made use of in very important situations during a baseball game and therefore they must be learned so that if you are ever called upon to perform, you are able to with confidence.

Drag Bunt: This style of bunt is primarily used by left-handed batters mainly because it is a whole lot more effective. However, you can certainly make use of this bunt if you are right-handed, however it will not be quite as effective. The goal of the drag bunt is to get on base, not to sacrifice a runner to the next base. To execute this bunt, you need to wait until the last moment possible to show your intention to bunt and bunt the ball to the same side of the field as you bat (left-handed hitters to first, right-handed batters to the third base side). The trick (especially for left-handed batters) is to start moving towards first base at the same time as you bunt the ball, which is certainly a lot trickier than it sounds! This movement saves valuable time and may make the difference between you being safe and you being called out at first base on a bang-bang play.

Push Bunt: Ordinarily, once a bunt is revealed, the second baseman will go and cover first base while the pitcher, 3rd baseman, and 1st baseman all attempt to field the bunt. The objective of a push bunt is to get a hit by bunting or “pushing” the ball hard past the charging fielders towards where the 2nd baseman would normally stand (but remember, he is over covering first, not covering his regular location). This leaves nobody to field your bunt in time to throw you out at first if you are a half-decent runner. To execute this bunt, you need to push the ball as you’re bunting it. Generally this is a no-no while bunting as you’re supposed to “catch” the baseball with the bat, but in this instance you need to put some power on the bunt to push it past the mound and towards the second base position.

Suicide Squeeze: The objective of the suicide squeeze would be to score a base runner from third, mostly performed with one out. With this particular bunt, you don’t care if you’re called out or safe at first base so long as the base runner scores. With this bunt, as soon as the pitcher commits, the base runner at third base should break to steal home and then it is the hitter’s job to lay the bunt down ideally away from home plate so the base runner can’t be tagged out. This kind of bunt is a do-or-die. As the batter, if you want to protect your runner from almost certain doom, you have to get the bunt down, even if this would mean bunting a bad pitch.

Hopefully, by knowing (and practicing) these various types of bunts, you will be able to execute them during a game whenever your team needs you to. Even though bunting is not usually the thrilling part of hitting, it could be if you execute during the right moments. It is all about doing what you are able to help your team win, and bunting is a significant aspect of doing that. Knowing how to bunt well is a enormous advantage that coaches and scouts look for in a player. Be sure that you do not slack off and learn how to bunt well, as it’s going to be worthwhile later!

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How to Bunt in Baseball

Filed under Hitting by on June 8, 2011 at 13:51 {no comments}

Virtually all baseball players like to hit. Players really enjoy being the one up there at the plate hitting line drives along with the occasional long ball. Players like batting so much that they will do many baseball workouts and hitting drills to improve. Sadly, since everybody loves batting so much, sometimes understanding the way to bunt effectively is overlooked.

Sometimes, players (especially the younger ones) assume that bunting is for the players that are not good at hitting. This just isn’t true at all! Bunting is a very valuable skill in the game of baseball, and can make the difference between your team winning and your team losing. It might not be the most glorious thing to do, but it is critical that you learn to bunt and when to bunt.

When you bunt, you are looking to achieve one of two things. You either want to advance a baserunner to the next base or you want to get a base hit. Occasionally if you’re lucky you’re able to do both!

Sacrifice Bunting: The objective of sacrifice bunting is to move a runner to the next base. When sacrifice bunting, you should begin in your regular batting stance. Before the ball is released from the pitcher’s hand you want to square your whole body so it is facing the pitcher. Squaring up earlier makes it easier for you to see the arriving pitch. Make sure that your weight is on the balls of your feet and you’re in an athletic position with your feet shoulder width apart and your knees a little bit bent. Hold the baseball bat out over the plate with your left hand one third up the baseball bat from the knob, and the other hand two thirds up the baseball bat from the knob, pinching the barrel of the bat with your right hand. It is very essential to keep the bat parallel to the ground or the barrel end of the baseball bat higher than the knob end of the baseball bat while sacrifice bunting. You should bend your knees if you are planning to bunt a low strike as opposed to dropping the barrel of the baseball bat with your hands. If the barrel of the bat is nearer to the ground than the knob, it’s probable that you’ll pop up the bunt.

Bunting for a Hit: When bunting for a base hit, you should use the same exact principles as sacrifice bunting except for two things. The first is you want to surprise the opposing team and reveal the bunt as late as you possibly can. Wait until the pitcher is at least releasing the baseball to reveal the bunt. The later the better. The second difference is your stance. Rather than squaring your body facing the pitcher pitcher, you should stay in your batting stance and pivot both your feet so that your toes are facing the pitcher. This enables you to prepare yourself to bunt quicker so you are more likely to surprise the opposing team. Basically, everything else is the same as the sacrifice bunt.

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2 Simple Yet Still Effective Hitting Drills

Filed under Hitting by on May 26, 2011 at 14:16 {no comments}

Have you been looking for a new, basic, and effective hitting drill to use in your current baseball workouts program? After exploring the internet and talking to many different baseball players and coaches to learn many amazing new hitting drills for you to consider. Today I am going to share two of them for you to try out and see what you think.

Dried Bean Drill: This drill is pretty similar to soft tossing using whiffle golf balls, except using dried beans. The next time you are at the supermarket, purchase several bags of dried butter beans. This is really affordable, as they in most cases cost around 50 cents a bag.

Stand a few feet to the side of the batter and soft toss the dried butter beans to the batter. In the beginning the player ought to hit with his regular bat and as he gets better and better and can hit the beans consistently, he should eventually begin using a broom stick. This will challenge his hand-eye coordination and after doing this for some time, a baseball will begin to look more like a beach ball!

Soccer Ball Drill: This is a wonderful drill for baseball players to increase their hitting power and their follow-through. For this drill you will want both a batting tee as well as a partially inflated soccer ball.

Set the batter up with a tee along with a batting screen just like they’d be hitting off a tee normally. Now, put the partially inflated soccer ball on the batting tee and have them hit it repeatedly. It is going to take a lot more strength to hit the soccer ball than they’d use for a ordinary baseball. Now put regular baseballs on top of the tee and have them take a couple of swings at baseballs. They will notice that after getting used to hitting a soccer ball they are now following through a lot better on the regular baseballs.

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Baseball Training Tips – Hit With More Power

Filed under Hitting by on May 10, 2011 at 23:03 {no comments}

Improving your ability to hit with increased power is just about the single most popular goal of baseball players. Many people believe that the capability to hit the long ball is simply a natural skill that can’t be improved. Nothing could possibly be more mistaken. As with most sport activities proper training and learning the correct mechanics are the keys to enhanced performance.

It has often been said that hitting a baseball is the most difficult single activity in sports. This may very well be true so it only makes sense to learn as much as possible and perform proper training to reach your maximum potential. Here are a couple of tips that actually go against some of the so-called conventional wisdom but are based on scientific facts and will improve your batting.

Tip #1 – Start getting ALL of your batting practice using a wooden baseball bat rather than metal. Why do this? For the simple reason that the “sweet spot” for a metal bat is a lot greater compared to that of real wood. This can be one crucial cause younger players develop improper hitting technique and create improper habits – metal is a lot more forgiving when you don’t strike a ball well. Practice with a wood bat will teach you to refine and develop your swing much better since “mistakes” do not result in very good hits. They simply result in vibration and stinging hands! Practice with a wood bat will have great benefit when playing in a game using a metal bat as the hits you do make will be from much better contact. You do not get this benefit if you practice with a metal bat. You can boost your batting average and power stats just from this one simple practice habit.

TIP #2: Even though most players do this you should NOT use a heavy donut or weighted bat when you are on deck or doing warm-up swings. Scientific studies have regularly shown that this practice can actually decrease bat speed. Your bat speed is probably the number one factor in producing a powerful hit. This is also true of the traditional swinging of multiple bats together which has the same negative effect. If you use a 32 once bat then you want to develop the nerve and muscle function to perform your correct swing with that size bat and with maximum bat speed. If you swing with a much heavier weighted bat then you do not create the correct neurological and muscular pathways needed to execute the real swing with the 32 once bat.

And exactly why is bat speed so vital? This is easy to understand if you take a look at some basic physics. To hit a ball hard and make it travel far you will need to apply as much FORCE as possible to the ball. One of the Laws of Physics tells us that FORCE = MASS times VELOCITY. To Increase FORCE you want to make the MASS or VELOCITY greater. For our baseball concern the MASS is the size of the bat (such as a 32 once bat). The VELOCITY is the speed at which you swing, which is obviously what you want to increase to result in more FORCE being applied to the ball. It is simple mathematics!

The tips mentioned above may be considered “out of the box” thinking as they go against the traditional training in baseball, but they are based on facts. Please keep in mind that just because everyone is doing something does not mean it is necessarily the best way to do it!. Learning to improve your baseball practice and batting techniques can be the secret to better power hitting.

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4 Techniques to Improve Your Baserunning Speed

Filed under Baserunning by on May 10, 2011 at 13:44 {no comments}

Anyone who says that you can’t better your baserunning speed is without a doubt incorrect! Although each individual person has a maximum potential speed, hardly anybody actually gets to that. There is lots of room to improve, and it is crucial to do just that! Speed is a highly important component scouts look for while observing players. Of course, you can find exceptions to the rule, yet normally you need to have at the very least average speed to get a chance at reaching the major leagues. Do not fret if you’ve got below average speed though, as you can find a lot of ways to improve.

1. Proper Mechanics: This is the most important aspect to increasing your baseball “speed.” The greatest thing about this is that you don’t actually have to run quicker! You simply have to find out the way to run properly. Proper body angle while running, raising the leg high enough for the perfect stride, as well as swinging the arms high enough with the correct angle at the elbow joint are all factors you should work on when fixing your running technique. It would take much to long to show you how to do each one of these things in just one paragraph, however you can find an abundance of educational books and DVDs readily available which are specifically devoted to proper running technique.

2. Reaction Time: Reaction time is the length of time between the cue to run and when you actually start running. A baseball example of reaction time is the amount of time it takes you to be able to react when the ball is hit, or a baserunner taking off on a pitcher’s first movement. The best way to increase reaction time would be to simply practice getting balls hit to you in different places and then reacting to them and fielding them. There are also reaction balls out on the marketplace which will bounce in random directions and you have to react in time to field it. You do not have to have fantastic reaction time to succeed in baseball, but if you don’t you at least have to make up for it by outstanding positioning. For instance if you are a shortstop and you know what kind of pitch the pitcher is going to throw, you want to get yourself in a great position where the ball will likely be hit before the batter even strikes the ball!

3. Baserunning Skill: You may be capable of running fast, but how fast are you able to run the bases? Do you hit the inside corner of the bag as you round a base? If you don’t, you will end up making yourself take a longer loop towards the next base potentially increasing the distance you will have to run from around 90 feet to 100 feet or even more! Basic errors like this can be enough to make the difference between being safe or being out. Additionally being a smart baserunner can make a big difference! A smart baserunner can very easily turn a single into an extra base hit simply because he knows if each outfielder’s arm is strong, poor, or average.

4. Fitness: Most likely there is some area for improvement in your overall fitness level. By exercising on a regular basis and concentrating some of your baseball workouts on cardiovascular exercises like running on the treadmill or riding a stationary bike, your speed will improve in time.

Are you interested in improving your base-running speed or any other aspect of your game? If so, make sure to check out the website “best baseball workouts” for much more information as well as tons of great products to take your game to the next level! With this information, your baseball workouts will be much more effective than ever!

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