Slap bunt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (May 2008)
Merge arrow
 It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Bunt. (Discuss)


Slap bunting is an offensive softball/baseball technique where "the idea behind the skill is to hit the ball to a place on the infield that's farthest from the place where the out needs to be made"[1] .


To execute slap bunting, the player is almost always in the back of the left-hand side of home plate, feet slightly open to right field, and choked up slightly on the bat. The moment the pitch is released from the pitchers hand, the player must rotate her hips toward the pitcher and then cross her back (left) foot over her front foot, moving up to the very front edge of the batters box.[2] Her shoulders should face the pitcher at this point. If the pitch is in the strike zone, the player should then extend her arms so that the bat is at the correct angle for where she wants to place the ball-- the barrel trailing the hands if she wants the ball to go to the left side of the field, and the opposite if she wants it to go to the right.


The technique is quite common in softball because of the difficulty of getting a hit with a pitcher only 40 feet away. By already being in the front of the batters box with your body turned halfway toward first base, the player already has some momentum toward first base and might be in better position to get a hit. [3]


The technique is often successful in sacrifice circumstances, where the placement of the ball could help advance a runner already on base. It is also often used when batters are having difficulty getting a hit off a difficult pitcher, or when they have a better opportunity of getting on base because of the slap bunt than a hit, perhaps because of the player's speed.


Some advanced players might perform a slap hit, which is the same technique except that the player swings to place the ball in an infield hole or over the infielders' heads.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Walker, Kirk (2007). The Softball Drill Book,p.127)
  2. ^ http://www.wikihow.com/Slap-Bunt
  3. ^ Walker, Kirk (2007). The Softball Drill Book, p.112)