I’ve never been a fan of home run baseball. You know what I mean, batters/runners going from station to station, playing it safe, and waiting for a slugger to drive them home with the long ball. For me, the most exciting play in the game is when a hitter lines a ball down the right field corner or in an outfield gap, sprints for a triple, and arrives safely with a headfirst slide. I also just like manufacturing runs – hitting behind the runner, stolen bases, and gasp, even bunts! In today’s game with the low batting averages and flame throwers from the mound, a team needs to find ways to score somehow. After the first quarter of MLB play this season, we have seen that many managers are returning to small ball!

Whitey Herzog, the late manager of the Cardinals during the 1980s, revolutionized baseball with his focus on small ball. The star of “Whiteyball” was of course Ozzie Smith, the “Wizard of Oz”, who started his career as a weak hitter but soon matched his defensive play with a high on-base percentage, stolen bases, and runs scored. Outfielder Willie McGee used his speed to the max, hitting line drives into the outfield gaps for triples, and stealing bases. Speaking of base stealing, how about left fielder Vince Coleman, who came to the squad in 1985, and set an all-time record for stealing 100+ bases in each of his first three seasons. The line drives were plentiful, but the HRs, not so much. In 1982, “power hitting” cleanup guy, George Hendrik, led the team with just 19 HRs.

So far this season we’ve seen an emphasis on bunting for the first time in decades. The bunt rate is 40% higher than it was in 2023. There have been some great bunters in MLB history. Brett Butler, whose 17-year career spanned six different MLB teams from 1981 to 1997, is widely thought of as the best bunter in modern history. Butler led off for most of his career and played center field. He led the National League in triples and runs scored in two seasons, batted .290 overall, and garnered 2,375 hits. 188 of those hits were bunt hits. Most notably, Butler reached base on a bunt hit in just less than 50% of his attempts.

Also on the modern day list of top bunters is my second favorite Dodger of all time, Maury Wills (my first is Sandy Koufax). In watching LA in the 1960s, you needed to be a fan of speed and defense. Wills embodied both. In his 14-year career, Maury stole 586 bases (setting the season stealing record at one point with 104 in 1962), batted .281 with 2,134 hits, and won two Gold Gloves at shortstop. Wills was known as a master craftsman of bunting. His 124 career bunt hits were gained with a success rate of 47% attempted bunts.

On the not so great bunter list is current Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts. In 2004, Roberts attempted to reach base via a bunt 33 times and was only successful in seven of them. In his 10-year playing career with five different MLB teams, he batted a modest .266 and stole 243 bases. Roberts’ MLB success, of course, is helming LA for the last eleven seasons. The Dodgers have won three World Series (2020, 2024, and 2025) with Roberts as manager. While his teams are known for hitting, pitching, and exceptional defense, they are in the bottom of the league in bunting. Of course, the Dodgers feature an expensive lineup of the top sluggers in the game (Ohtani, Freeman, Betts, Tucker, and Smith) and can score without small ball.

Which teams in 2026 top the MLB list in bunting? It’s mostly the lower payroll lineups. Brewers, Rays, White Sox, Athletics, and Diamondbacks lead baseball in sacrifice bunts. And don’t look now, but they are all near the top of the standings in their respective divisions. It makes sense in a lot of ways as the game continues to change. It’s certainly a lot easier to bunt a 100 mph + fastball than hit one. With what many believe to be a league-wide deficiency in defensive fundamentals, why not put more pressure on the defense by putting the ball in play. It’s hard to score when position players are now sporting batting averages at a rate lower than we’ve seen in the modern era (.243). Use small ball to score some runs!

A couple, somewhat unknown players have stood out so far. Milwaukee’s second baseman David Hamilton is leading the way by putting down successful bunts (bunts for a hit and sacrifice bunts) in about half of the games he’s played in 2026. Hamilton attributes his success to hard work and team emphasis. In the last three years playing for the Red Sox, he attempted just 11 total bunts in 204 games. In his first 30 games with the Brewers, Hamilton had 14 bunt attempts, all successful. He saw honing his bunting skills as a way to keep him in the major leagues, and made great strides in the offseason and spring training to perfect them. He credits his manager, Pat Murphy, for encouraging him to contribute to the team in this way.

In the American League, White Sox outfielder Tristan Peters is quickly establishing himself as the next Brett Butler. Peters has an interesting background, coming up through the Milwaukee system and also spending time with the Savannah Bananas. He finds himself on a White Sox team that is doing everything possible to win some games and turn around their dismal win-loss records of the past few seasons. Despite having some big bats in the lineup with power, Murakami, Montgomery, and Vargas, Chicago has turned to small ball when the games are on the line. Peters’ contributions have included game winning RBI bunts.

Like everything in life, if you want to be good at something you need to practice it. The White Sox, Brewers, and the other low payroll teams have emphasized bunting and small ball this year to compete. Chicago manager Will Venable noted: “We’ve been talking about bunting as a weapon starting in Spring Training and how important that was going to be for guys in certain slots.” Milwaukee’s David Hamilton emphasized the point: “It was Murph (skipper Pat Murphy) in spring always telling me to bunt and use the speed and just practice it every day.” You never know, the renewed focus on small ball may lead to the same kind of success Whiteyball experienced 40 years ago!

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach