Sacrifice hit

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In baseball, a sacrifice hit (also called a sacrifice bunt) is the act of deliberately bunting the ball in a manner that allows a runner on base to advance to another base, while the batter is himself put out.

The most common situations in which to sacrifice bunt is when there are fewer than two outs and a runner on first base or runners on first and second base. The runners try to advance as soon as they see the ball bunted. A properly executed sacrifice hit in this scenario puts the ball up the first base line with a runner on first, or down the third base line with runners at first and second. This avoids an inning-ending double play and results in the runner(s) advancing to second (and third) base.

A successful sacrifice hit does not count as an at bat. However, if the scorer believes that the batter was attempting to bunt for a base hit, and not solely to advance the runners, he is not credited with a sacrifice hit and is charged an at bat.

In leagues without a designated hitter, sacrifice bunts are most commonly attempted by pitchers, who generally are not known for their hitting abilities. Managers believe that since their at bat will probably result in an out, they might as well approach it in a style likely to at least advance the runners. Some leadoff hitters also bunt frequently in similar situations and may be credited with a sacrifice, but as they are often highly skilled bunters and faster runners, they are often trying to get on base as well as advance runners.

A sacrifice hit attempted while a runner is on third is called a squeeze play.

Although a sacrifice hit is not the same as a sacrifice fly, both fell under the same statistical category until 1954.

In scoring, a sacrifice hit may be denoted by SH, S, or occasionally, SAC.