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Grit Your Teeth, Texas, And Bunt

Jun 22, 2009, 9:00 PM UTC

It’s late June, which can only mean one thing: nothing. The sportsâ†µcalendar this time of year is an endless procession of fractionallyâ†µsignificant MLB games and nothing else save the occasionalâ†µweirdo at a soccer game and the NBA and NHL drafts. â†µâ†µSo you might be interested in carving out some time for the College World Series championship series, which beginsâ†µtonight and will be an exercise in contrasts. LSU is a baseballâ†µedition of the Tigers’ 2007 football national champions, all gorillasâ†µwith chainsawsâ†µwhere the sun don’t shine. They’ve jacked 103 home runs this year,â†µsport a team-wide on-base percentage of .408 and have generallyâ†µbludgeoned opponents into submission. â†µ

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â†µâ†µTexas, on the other hand, is Davidâ†µEckstein writ large, except without the actually being pretty sucky.â†µThey love pitching (team ERA: 2.88, first nationally), defense, andâ†µsmall ball. Longhorns coach Augie Garrido is obsessedâ†µwith sacrifice bunts:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥“If hitting is the hardest thing in sports, then why in the hellâ†µâ‡¥are you going to concentrate on trying to beat someone with hitting? Youâ†µâ‡¥simply look to find something else. Bunting is so much easier.”â†µâ‡¥

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â†µTexas has laid down 102 sacrifices this year. This, of course, goesâ†µagainst every fiber of the sabermetrician's being even at a majorâ†µleague level. In college, where pitchers can be iffy, .320 averages areâ†µcommonplace, and the aluminum bat rules, laying down a bunt is a sinâ†µagainst math.â†µ

â†µâ†µCue major consternation in the Texas blogosphere. Barkingâ†µCarnival assembledâ†µand deployed the numbers conclusively:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥[T]he important thing is that our team, just like the national average,â†µâ‡¥scored more runs per inning and scored at least one run more often inâ†µâ‡¥runner on 1st and no outs situations than they did in runner on secondâ†µâ‡¥and one out situations. We [Texas] gave up about 1/4 of a runâ†µâ‡¥each time we bunted that runner over and decreased ourâ†µâ‡¥likelihood of scoring even a single run by 3-4%.â†µâ†µâ†µ...and concluded thusly:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥In summary, STOP BUNTING AUGIE!â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µâ†µBurnt Orange Nationâ†µfollowed that up with an even longer post referencingâ†µthe BC post which came to the same conclusion: “he’s simplyâ†µwrong about sacrifice bunting.” â†µ

â†µâ†µThis isn’t a program-wrecking flaw, obviously, but it is the kind ofâ†µcoaching blindness that drives fans nuts, like refusing to foul whenâ†µyou’re up three or severe mismanagement of the two-minute drill. As youâ†µwatch tonight, have a thought for the Texas blogosphere on the edge ofâ†µits seat, cursing the quarter-run they’re giving up every time one ofâ†µtheir thumping middle-of-the-order hitters pulls an Eckstein with hisâ†µmetal bat.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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