Lack of Sacrifice Bunts

[Tommy Salami]

Is it just Me or have we seemed to completely abandon the sacrifice bunt? I've watched almost every game this year and it just seems like when we get a guy on first we almost never sac him over to 2nd. This was something we did very often during the past few years, and it usually paid off. We seem to be stealing more but it hasn't been nearly as effective at moving runners into scoring position. As all of us know we do not have a dominant offense at all so small ball should be very important for us. You can draw a walk, sac him over, then have 2 outs to play with and it only takes one ball through the infield to score a run. This year it seems we usually will ground into a dp or fail to advance a runner and waste outs. I am big on the sacrifice bunt and think we have to use it more if this team is going to be successful.

For example, in game 1 this weekend, English walked to start off the game. I was talking to the tv saying to sac him to 2nd. I know early in the game some teams don't like tosac yet but we used to and think this team will have to. Vergason grounded into a dp the next at bat. We would have scored English that inning if he had sac him to 2nd.obviously wouldn't have made a difference in that game but it seems like this has been happening all year.

In short, I believe we should sacrifice almost every time we get the lead off runner on no matter what inning. It puts a guy in scoring position with only one out and immediately puts more pressure on the pitcher. Obviously,this is not our only problem as our offense has been just struggling hugely and hasn't be enable to score people in scoring position anyway. But I think this has to be a part of this teams recipe for success. Just my thoughts, but we've all seen it pay off pretty often over the past few years.

[Coulwoodwarlord]

Not sure I wanna be questioning Holbrook. He's different from Tanner, besides, I'm not a real fan of the sacrifice.

[ktguen]

I think our increase in stealing and lack of bunts correlate directly to each other. Holbrook wants to try to get that guy over without giving up the out. Also, a decent number of our bunts have been sneaking through for hits or at least errors that puts them on, so maybe that why you feel like you're noticing less.

I do agree though, seems to be less this year. But being more aggressive on the base paths probably is a reason for it.

[cockyjordan3]

If someone as fast as English is on first, we should never have to sacrifice him over. Steal second and swing the bat.

[talon]

our run scored last night because of a sac bunt

[Tommy Salami]

Originally Posted by ktguen

I think our increase in stealing and lack of bunts correlate directly to each other. Holbrook wants to try to get that guy over without giving up the out. Also, a decent number of our bunts have been sneaking through for hits or at least errors that puts them on, so maybe that why you feel like you're noticing less.

I do agree though, seems to be less this year. But being more aggressive on the base paths probably is a reason for it.

This does seem to be why, however, it has not been very successful. We are only 8th in the league in stolen bases. We are also 4th in the league in caught stealing while only 7th in the league in steal attempts, which isn't good. I'm all for stealing when the right people are on base but that does not mean we should abandon the sac bunt completely. We are 13th in the league in sac bunts only having 8 going into this game. That's just way less than it should be and I've seen it biting us in the butt plenty of times this year.

Vanderbilt is first in the league in stolen bases AND first in the league at sac bunts as well. So it is certainly possible to balance the two in the right situations with the right people. And I am not seeing that right now with us. All 7 teams ahead of us in steals also have more sac bunts as well.

[Tommy Salami]

And even when you take into account amount of base runners in those stats,we are 5th in the league in obp. Out of the 9 teams that are behind us in obp, 8 of them are ahead of us in sac bunts while 4 of those 8 are ahead of us in both steals AND sac bunts. That is not good. No matter how you slice it we are not being productive at moving runners around the base paths. And I believe this is a key improvement to make.

[Tommy Salami]

Originally Posted by talon

our run scored last night because of a sac bunt

Exactly. If we had not sac him over, that run would not have scored. This just proves my point.

[Tommy Salami]

Originally Posted by cockyjordan3

If someone as fast as English is on first, we should never have to sacrifice him over. Steal second and swing the bat.

I agree with this. Guys as fast as English and Carson, I have no problem with them stealing. Not every guy on our team is as fast as these two. Look at the stats i posted. They really tell it all. It's not like we have a wholeteam of English and Carson's and we are stealing bases left and right. We haven't had success doing that either relative to the rest of the league. When you have a obp as high as we do and you can't move runners around the bases and can't score runs, you're doing something wrong. I really think is akey area we need to improve. Look at the stats and tell me that we're doing a good job of it right now.

[GamecockInHell]

I've thought that was missing from our game all year. In low scoring games putting a runner on second with less than two outs is critical in putting pressure on the other team. Look how many times Arkansas did it to us. OF course the key is getting the lead-off guy on.

[usc51]

I don't know if our offense is good enough right now to sacrifice an out.

[ucan'tlickourcocks]

When we were 18-3, I didn't hear anybody complaining....... we lose a couple games, and now folks want to dissect every little thing, trying to find fault!

Fact is, we have a different coach, for better or worse..... Chad likes to be more aggressive, letting hitters swing away, letting base runners steal, etc......

For God sakes, give our Coach and players a chance before we start with all the criticism!

Oh..... and 1 more thing...... we will not go undefeated and win the National Championship every year! I know that sounds ridiculous, but I believe some need reminding of reality!

Folks seem willing to give Coach Martin a pass..... I believe coach Holbrook deserves the benefit of the doubt at the moment as well!

I am not saying you can't whine, moan, point out facts, voice your opinion, whatever..... I am just trying to bring a little levity to the discussion, and provide MY point of view!

PS - Arkansas was ranked #1 preseason in one poll for a reason........

[GamecockInHell]

All the more reason to try and manufacture runs when you get a chance.

[Tommy Salami]

Originally Posted by ucan'tlickourcocks

When we were 18-3, I didn't hear anybody complaining....... we lose a couple games, and now folks want to dissect every little thing, trying to find fault!

Fact is, we have a different coach, for better or worse..... Chad likes to be more aggressive, letting hitters swing away, letting base runners steal, etc......

For God sakes, give our Coach and players a chance before we start with all the criticism!

Oh..... and 1 more thing...... we will not go undefeated and win the National Championship every year! I know that sounds ridiculous, but I believe some need reminding of reality!

Folks seem willing to give Coach Martin a pass..... I believe coach Holbrook deserves the benefit of the doubt at the moment as well!

I am not saying you can't whine, moan, point out facts, voice your opinion, whatever..... I am just trying to bring a little levity to the discussion, and provide MY point of view!

PS - Arkansas was ranked #1 preseason in one poll for a reason........

Ah, I realized this would happen. Point out one legitimate flaw and get jumped all over. I'm not bashing our team or throwing in the towel for the season. Our pitching will give us a chance to win any series we have all year. But runs are a huge premium for us andthis is a cause of concern right now and something I believe should be addressed. What we are doing right now isnot working plain and simple. If we're going to be competing for a championship this has to improve. People act like we're stealing tons of bases and this is why we never sacrifice. We're not. Something needs to change. We can't be putting runners on base like we are(5th in ob%) and not moving them around and rely on doubles and homers to score our runs. Does anyone think we can rely on that? We're not stealing that any bases and we are not using the sacrifice. These are important elements of the game of baseball especially when you struggle as much as we are at scoring runs.

I'm perfectly fine with winning games2-1and even 1-0. I don't care as long as we win its perfectly fine. But we have to move runners and manufacture runs anyway possible.

[cockyjordan3]

Originally Posted by talon

our run scored last night because of a sac bunt

How much good did that one run do us? Had we not given up that out, it may have been a double in the gap and we may have had a big inning.

[uscGRAD04]

We had trouble this weekend getting the leadoff runner on. That could have something to do with it. Seems like Arkansas always had their leadoff runner on, then bunt him over and hit him in.

[cack]

Have to get runners on base to sac them over.

With that said, sometimes if you show faith in your batters. They might come up big for you and then spark a rally.

We haven't played with the same lineup (or only made changes due to coaches decision) all season. We've been hit with illness after illness and injury after injury. Let us field a healthy team for a few weeks before the sky starts to fall. Arkansas has a GREAT pitching staff. Give credit where it's due.

[Tommy Salami]

Originally Posted by cockyjordan3

How much good did that one run do us? Had we not given up that out, it may have been a double in the gap and we may have had a big inning.

The thing is can we really rely on a double or any extra base hits to score our runs? Everyone knows we are not a dominant offense, so I dont think relying on extra base hits is a very good philosophy for this offense. We actually did execute some sac bunts in game 3(2 by dantzler) which for me was good to see. But we just cant come up with the clutch hits right now. This weekend we did not hit at all so it really didnt matter how we moved around runners because we couldnt come up with the hits to bring them home. Going forward, I still think we should use the sac bunt more(as we did on Sunday), we just have to come through with the hits to make it pay off. Honestly, I dont see this offense sparking any big rallies against top SEC pitching staffs, so we have to manufacuture runs any way possible. Its obvious we are in for another scrappy season but thats perfectly fine with me. We won two national championships that way. We just have to come up with the big hits at the right time. Draw a walk, sac him over to 2nd, then 2 batters will have a chance to come through and we score a run off of one hit. But right now, none of the batters are coming through at all. With our pitching it will only take a couple of these hits each game to win, this is how we made our living during our national championship runs.

[USCBatgirl21]

In all fairness...Saturday's loss had much more to do with the abysmal defense behind Belch than the lack of sac bunts getting guys over, or using a sac bunt instead of swinging away when we scored the one run.