Bunt Doubles – An Update
Posted by Raphy on August 9, 2009
Last week I posted a list of all the bunt doubles in the majors since 1988. Included in that list was a peculiar bunt-double by John Vander Wal which was described as : "Double to LF/Bunt (Bunt Line Drive to Deep LF)"
I thought that it was strange that anyone could hit a bunt line drive to deep left field. Carl Bialik of the Wall Street Journal confirmed my suspicions by sending me a link to the New York Times article about that game. In the article Tyler Kepner refers to Vander Wal having "sliced a double to the left-field warning track." Clearly Vander Wal did not bunt.
I fired off an email to Dave Smith at Retrosheet and he has confirmed that Vander Wal's hit should not be listed as a bunt. The change will take effect in the Retrosheet database in December. I have edited my original blog post to reflect this information.
August 9th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Thanks for the update, and for being so thorough on your follow through. As a stats fan, I appreciate the effort to get the numbers right.
August 10th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Will that change be reflected on B-R as well? I don't know how the system works. Once B-R pulls in the logs from Retrosheet, do they sync up if Retrosheet corrects something? You should let Sean know about this.
August 11th, 2009 at 7:53 am
Not that Vander Wal's was actually a bunt, but.. isn't it plausible to have one, anyway? Let's say the third baseman comes racing in to field a bunt he thinks will be down the line, but the batter's attempt manages to sail over his head (maybe from a swinging bunt) and bounce into left field. The LF is out of position and hasn't backed the play up, the SS is over at second ... it's possible in this scenario that the batter could wind up with a bunt double.
August 11th, 2009 at 10:13 am
I think it is plausible, and I think Rizzuto may have done that sort of thing. I haven't bothered to find the support for that, but I do remember reading an article many years ago about his versatility as a bunter. I don't know if he ever turned any into doubles, but I am almost certain he sometimes slapped bunts over charging infielders' heads.
August 11th, 2009 at 11:08 am
My point wasn't that he bunted to LF, it was that he bunted to deep LF. If you look at the original post, several players have bunted the ball into the outfield since '88.
August 11th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Furcal's bunt was almost a triple. He bunted it over the charging third baseman, and it bounced on the dirt just shy of the grass along the left field line. It then rolled to the left wall, where the left fielder raced to get to it. The ball got away from him for a second and Furcal was rounding second. Had the left fielder been one more step away, he wouldn't have held Furcal to the double. If you watch the condensed game on mlb.com, you can see the bunt at 1:35 into the video.