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Best Bunts of 2010 at Fangraphs

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Interesting tidbit from Fangraphs, describing the most successful bunt attempts of the 2010 season. Matt Klassen notes, "Keep in mind that these were the most successful bunts of the season, and that five plays doesn’t tell us anything of general significance about bunting as a strategy. Still, it is interesting to note that four of the plays involved errors, and two of them involved the bunter noticing the infields playing back." Oh, but it does tell us something about strategy. As Tango, Lichtman and Dolphin demonstrated in The Book, the sacrifice attempt is, on average, a terrible play unless you account for the possibility of reaching first or earning extra bases. I bet a table of the worst bunts in 2010 would be a long list of two-hitters who sacrificed the leadoff man to 2nd with no outs in the first inning.

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