The lost art of bunting made a brief appearance in the MLB limelight over the weekend — and was booed offstage.
Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Blake Perkins came to bat with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, his team trailing the Cincinnati Reds by one run with runners at second and third base.
A single to the outfield would all but certainly have won the game for Milwaukee. But Perkins shocked the American Family Field crowd and his teammates with a bunt that was popped up and easily caught by the pitcher for the game's final out.
Cameras appeared to catch stunned Brewers manager Pat Murphy's immediate reaction with his arms folded and asking: “What the f--- is he doing?”
The ill-fated play shined a light on the long, agonizing death of what was once one of baseball's most respected skills — the art of bunting.
There were 786 bunt hits in Major League Baseball in 2003. The number fell to 693 by 2006, 567 in 2016 and 386 in 2019.
Following the pandemic-shortened season of 2020, the number of bunt hits every year has stayed firmly in the 300s. MLB is on pace for another season of sub-400 bunt hits.
"The way the landscape is, that doesn't surprise me," all-time great MLB bunter Brett Butler told NBC News on Monday. "We're at a different way of playing now, and people seem to like it, and it puts people in the seats."
The bunt is employed as a sacrifice to move a base runner at the cost of an out or as an attempt to get a base hit, as Perkins tried to do over the weekend.
But statistical analysis has long ago proven that a lost out costs more than the benefit of advancing a runner. And while singles are still valued in the sport, the modern focus has been on home runs and extra-base hits that could lead to immediate scores.
The anti-bunting ethos even had its moment in a Hollywood blockbuster.
Brad Pitt's version of Oakland A's executive Billy Beane went on multiple rants against bunting, as both sacrifices and attempted base hits, in the 2011 movie "Moneyball."
"No bunts," Pitt's Beane told players in one scene.
"Not even when the third baseman is back?" a player responds, repeating a once-accepted baseball methodology to bunt against a corner infielder playing deep.
"No bunting whatsoever," Pitt shot back.
Private baseball instructor Patrick Jones admits he’s not teaching much bunting for the simple reason that no one is clamoring for that instruction.
“I’d be willing to” teach it, said Jones, a former batting instructor in the Baltimore Orioles system. “But for a lot of kids it’s ‘what’s going to be a determining factor to get me to the next level?’ And a lot of it has nothing to do with bunting.”
Despite the ongoing dismissal of bunting, Jones said the skill will eventually have an uptick as players seek novel ways to boost on-base percentage by any means necessary.
“The sac bunt is probably dead forever, but bunting for a hit? I think that’s something that will be utilized more and more as time goes on,” Jones said. “At the end of the day, it’s about scoring and it’s about getting on base. You have to get on base in order to score runs.
"Bunting isn’t easy with the pitching you’re facing today. But I think it’s going to be a tool that’ll allow players to increase their chances of getting on base. It’s going to be another tool.”
Butler, who played 17 seasons with the Atlanta Braves, the Cleveland Indians, the San Francisco Giants, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets, said he still thinks bunting could be a valuable tool if modern hitters simply practiced it more.
“A big leaguer, if he works at it, can bunt. That’s the key. It’s just not a priority anymore,” Butler said. “It’ll never be what it was before. But I think it’s like anything else — all you’re looking for in the game is balance.”
After Friday night's game, the Brewers' Perkins bluntly told reporters, "The guys behind me are statistically better hitters."
Butler insisted Perkins was being a good teammate in trying to set up Brice Turang, who was up next and having, by all statistical measures, a greater season.
"Was it the wrong thought? If he would have executed it, they would have thought it was brilliant," Butler said. "You have to assess your talent and how, in my mind, can I be the most successful in that situation."
And despite his initial four-letter disappointment, Murphy backed Perkins to reporters after the game, chalking up the final play to a "young person's moment" and an "ill-advised decision."
"No, it makes no sense," Murphy said. "But I love this kid, man. I know it's tearing him up. It hurts me inside because I'm hurting for him, not only for our team, but I'm hurting for him."
