The Tampa Bay Rays have made bunting their signature move this season, and it’s paying off big time. Take that game on September 22 against the Yankees – the Rays were up 1-0 in the seventh, with runners on first and third. Taylor Walls laid down a perfect bunt between the mound and first, scoring the runner from third while the Yankees left second base uncovered. It sparked a three-run inning, and they went on to win 6-1. Manager Kevin Cash put it plainly: ‘We’ve done that a lot this year. It’s very hard to defend.’
The numbers back him up. The Rays bunted 129 times this season, 40 more than the next team, the Brewers. They led in bunt hits with 84, compared to 54 for the Rockies, and had the most sacrifice bunts at 45. Their 49 bunt hits were 17 ahead of the Brewers. Meanwhile, the Dodgers managed just two bunt hits all year. Cash laughed when asked about it: ‘Why would you ask anyone on the Dodgers to bunts? We don’t ask Junior Caminero or Yandy Diaz to do it, but we have guys who can.’
Speedy players like Chandler Simpson, who had 14 bunt hits in 26 tries, Cedric Mullins with 12 in 14, and Taylor Walls with 11 in 19, are the stars of this show. They’re all top bunters, behind only the Brewers’ David Hamilton.
It wasn’t planned from the start, though. ‘We didn’t come into the season saying we’d bunt more,’ Cash said. ‘It just evolved.’ Simpson added, ‘We recognized we had speed on the roster, and we could make the bunt a weapon. We chat about it a lot in the batting cage.’
The mastermind behind it all is third base coach Brady Williams, whose dad, Jimy, was a big leaguer and manager who taught bunting. ‘My dad was an elite teacher of bunting,’ Williams said. ‘He taught all the Braves in the ’90s. I watched his videos as a kid, and I was the mannequin.’ Williams has been pushing bunting in the minors and now with the Rays, believing it makes the game more exciting. ‘Bunting is coming back. It’s amazing how exciting it can be when a bunt play is executed perfectly.’
Early in the season, they pulled off a safety squeeze against the Giants that tied a game. ‘It just catapulted from there,’ Williams said. ‘We have bunting practice every day. At first, only three guys showed up, then four, six, and soon, eight or ten guys were early to bunt. They say bunting is easy if you practice it – if you don’t, it’s really hard.’
Williams loves talking about bunting, drawing inspiration from greats like Brett Butler. ‘It’s all about putting pressure on the defense,’ he explained. ‘When you execute a bunt, it’s hard to get an out because the pitcher, first baseman, and third baseman all have responsibilities. Other teams don’t know what we’re going to do, and that gives us an edge.’
Beyond bunting, the Rays have elite pitching, great defense, and Caminero as a power hitter. They also struck out the fewest times in the majors, and their pitchers walked the fewest batters – a rare feat last seen in 2006 with the Twins and 1986 with the Red Sox. In a home run-driven era, the Rays are proving you can win with a bunt.
