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Is Ozzie's "Bunting
School" really needed?
John Dewan's Stat of
the Week™
July 26, 2006
Ozzie Guillen has been upset
that at key times this year his World Champion White Sox have failed to
lay down a sacrifice bunt when needed. In the last couple of weeks he
has set up his "Bunting School," where selected players take extra
bunting practice on a daily basis.
Is it true that his team has
struggled, or are the White Sox really not that bad when it comes to
getting down a good sacrifice bunt? Here are the 2006 top and bottom
five teams in Major League Baseball in sacrifice bunt efficiency
(through the games of Sunday, July 23).
|
Top Five |
|
Team |
Sac Hits |
Sac Hit
Failures |
Sac Hit
Efficiency |
|
1. Blue Jays |
8 |
0 |
100.0% |
|
2. Orioles |
27 |
1 |
96.4% |
|
3. Cardinals |
46 |
2 |
95.8% |
|
4. Twins |
16 |
1 |
94.1% |
|
5. Marlins |
48 |
4 |
92.3% |
|
Bottom Five |
|
Team
|
Sac Hits
|
Sac Hit
Failures |
Sac Hit
Efficiency |
|
26. Cubs |
46 |
11 |
80.7% |
|
27. White Sox |
29 |
7 |
80.6% |
|
28. Mariners |
22 |
6 |
78.6% |
|
29. Angels |
17 |
6 |
73.9% |
|
30. D'backs |
30 |
13 |
69.8% |
It turns out Ozzie was right
on the button with the White Sox ranking 27th out of 30 MLB teams in Sac
Hit Efficiency. But it is not for lack of trying—the White Sox lead the
AL in attempts, with more attempts than even two NL teams. For those of
you out there wondering why the highest scoring team in the majors would
even worry about the sacrifice bunt at all: that's a good question. The
key part of the answer is that Ozzie is primarily sending his
bottom-of-the-order guys to his school. No big boppers like Jim Thome,
Paul Konerko, or Jermaine Dye were asked to register. Even for a high
scoring team there are times when a sac bunt can be useful.
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