San Jose entrepreneur Chadwick McCrea Graham is the founder of ID Shredder, LLC, a document destruction and recycling operation headquartered in California’s Bay Area. A graduate of the University of Iowa College of Law, Chadwick McCrea Graham is also the co-founder of the Graham Adair, Inc., law firm, and SmashPong, LLC. Beyond his many professional responsibilities, he contributes his time to a number of extracurricular endeavors, such as coaching a local youth baseball team.
Teaching youth baseball players about the various types of bunts is an important lesson for all Little League coaches, particularly when it comes to players who demonstrate the ability to succeed at higher levels of the sport. Though not as glamorous as a home run or outfield double, the various types of bunts provide teams with a number of unique offensive strategies. In fact, experts have determined that, statistically speaking, a bunt is the most effective way of scoring a single run.
A common bunt involves a batter lightly tapping the ball rather than taking a full swing. Basic bunts are generally only reserved for a team’s fastest players, as most bunting scenarios result in the batter being thrown out at first. A sacrifice bunt, however, involves the batter knowingly hitting into an out with the goal of moving another runner into scoring position. Sacrifice bunts present coaches with the perfect opportunity to stress the importance of teamwork.
Suicide squeeze and safety squeeze bunts can also be viewed as sacrifice bunts, though they are for the purpose of moving a runner from third base to home plate. Suicide squeeze bunts involve the runner on third beginning his or her sprint home before the batter has successfully bunted. This gives the runner a head start, but a poorly hit or missed bunt can result in the runner sprinting directly into an out. A safety squeeze, on the other hand, represents a more conservative approach to scoring from third.
Lastly, the drag bunt is one of the less common bunting strategies seen in baseball. Drag bunts are similar to basic bunts in that the objective is to get the batter to first base. However, drag bunts are usually hit by left-handed batters who direct the ball up the third baseline, forcing pitchers or third basemen to make a long throw across the infield. Unlike most other bunts, drag bunts must be concealed as long as possible to maintain the element of surprise, whereas a successful squeeze or sacrifice bunt does not rely much on disguise.
