Who is the gators primary hitting coach? And how long has he been with us? This year we’ve only got two hitters batting above 300 on the entire team. Serious drop off from previous years.
We had a team ERA well over 6.00 which was last in the SEC. The lineup had a couple of holes but hitting was the least of our problems this season.
Our offense was built on the long ball. So we didn't steal many bases, take chances on extra bases with a base hit, bunt many runners over, etc.
The guys we needed to be able to bunt also repeatedly failed to execute when asked to do so. Blame coaching if you want, but that should be an integral part of some of these guys repertoires and shouldn’t have to be told to them on a daily basis. Not at this level. You know who you are.
I could bunt. Even at the Little League level if I knew that we needed a runner I would bunt and always get on base. Never taught to me and never called from the dugout. Don't try to bunt an pitch inside. Take it for a ball. Don't try to bunt a pitch high outside the strike zone. You will pop that up. Anything else you just stay on top of it.
In a sacrifice situation and I am pitching I am throwing a high four seamer close to but just over the strike zone. That is a hard pitch to bunt down and a hard pitch to lay off. Then I might run a two seamer in on the fists (assuming right on right) because that is a hard pitch to bunt. If both are balls for a 2-0 count I give the hitter a pitch to bunt hoping he screws up. I give the batter two chances to mess up before I give him what he wants.
I remember being preached to about bunting—square early, bat out front AND at a 45* angle and you’re catching the ball with your bat just like you have a glove on the end of your barrel. Succeed—you get a thumbs up. Fail—there was a whole lot of running involved. Expected and just the way it was.
A pitcher that has to hit should definitely have all the varieties of bunt in his repertoire. Lol. Jac and Ohtani excluded, obviously. Lol
Our coaches used traffic cones to make the lanes you needed to bunt into. With them out you had real lines and depth perception to sharpen your skills with. A whole lot of stuff that was done back then wouldn’t even be allowed on the field. Our coaches used to roll a 55 gallon drum out to the second base area for our defense to learn how to get over a runner coming in hot.
These boys are still doing similar drills. Kind of ironic, but it’s some of the only times I’ve seen the whole team huddled up and really having a good time, Sully included.
Same guy who was our hitting coach last year when we were 2nd in the SEC in runs scored....behind the team that beat us in the National Championship series.
Hitting: trying to hit a fast moving round sphere with a round cylinder and being told to square it up.
Successful bunting by a team is a great weapon. It just causes commotion to the fielding team. Wish we were better at it and used it more often. Especially by someone who is extremely fast or has a bad ERA.
No idea about stats relative but feels like an absurd number of our homers have been solo shots. Not asking for more bunts but I absolutely question some aspect of the philosophy.
