McSquirl to miss ATL series

[kcmets]

Have they said if they're expecting a boy or a girl or a wait-and-see?

[Benjamin Grimm]

They won't know for sure until the child is old enough to select pronouns.

[MFS62]

=Ceetar post_id=99288 time=1657569100 user_id=102]
It's a 90mph slider tailing away from you, or a 98 mph fastball letter-high, now you don't just want to hit it, you want to hit it a tiny fraction of a second late so it goes towards third?

[kcmets]

Didn't think of that, but yeah. Hope it's a happy birth

and McNutty gets back soon.

[Frayed Knot]

The one variable I've introduced here that isn't being discussed is the "hitting a grounder towards an unoccupied 3B vs. bunting towards an unoccupied 3B" question. Am I wrong to think that the former is easier than the latter for most hitters?

I would think that directing a bunt is MUCH easier than directing the ball via a swing. Swinging involves contact and timing, bunting just a pre-angled bat and contact. Both halves of that equation seem considerably easier to pull off without a full swing, even a controlled one.

[Edgy MD]

That is why, of course, you can continue batting forever if you can successfully foul off pitches in the strike zone by swinging, but if you bunt a ball foul with two strikes, you have been struck out.

[The Hot Corner]

=roger_that post_id=99264 time=1657562002 user_id=128]
Yeah, but that means that you've effectively moved the defense out of what they think is their best positioning against you. What I'm talking about here is bunting against the shift, not bunting against a more traditional defense.

[roger_that]

The one variable I've introduced here that isn't being discussed is the "hitting a grounder towards an unoccupied 3B vs. bunting towards an unoccupied 3B" question. Am I wrong to think that the former is easier than the latter for most hitters? Even forgetting about the advantage that swinging away gives you on two strikes (fouls count as fouls, not strikes three), it seems to me more natural and more feasible to do. Plus if you actually get the ball hit semi-hard to 3B, you might get a double out of it. So why bunt with two strikes instead of trying to hit a grounder towards 3B? It's a 90mph slider tailing away from you, or a 98 mph fastball letter-high, now you don't just want to hit it, you want to hit it a tiny fraction of a second late so it goes towards third?

It's a cliche so often spoken that it's practically stupid to say so anymore: a RH batter in certain situations is trying to slap a pitch to the right side of the infield to move the runners up a base. It's fundamental baseball, it's just good execution, it's simple elementary small-ball, but you want to pretend for some bizarre reason of your own that a LH batter doing the exact same thing (only to the left side) is performing brain surgery on an insect while flying upside down at Mach speed? Please.

[Edgy MD]

I'm not sure what the conflict is.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Frayed Knot wrote: The one variable I've introduced here that isn't being discussed is the "hitting a grounder towards an unoccupied 3B vs. bunting towards an unoccupied 3B" question. Am I wrong to think that the former is easier than the latter for most hitters? I would think that directing a bunt is MUCH easier than directing the ball via a swing. Swinging involves contact and timing, bunting just a pre-angled bat and contact. Both halves of that equation seem considerably easier to pull off without a full swing, even a controlled one.

Of course. There's no question but that controlling a batted ball by bunting it is much easier than by taking a full swing at the ball. The downside is that the ball won't travel nearly as far. But that's the calculate tradeoff. Often, a team needs baserunners more than men in scoring position. Besides, you can't score without first getting on base. And as Edgy would write, the third strike on a foul ball penalty -- because the bunted ball is so much easier to control. Is the point of this discussion really to figure out why McNeil bunted, or is this just some pretext for I dunno what?

Edgy MD wrote: That is why, of course, you can continue batting forever if you can successfully foul off pitches in the strike zone by swinging, but if you bunt a ball foul with two strikes, you have been struck out.

[Frayed Knot]

=Ceetar post_id=99276 time=1657565890 user_id=102]
=roger_that post_id=99264 time=1657562002 user_id=128]
Yeah, but that means that you've effectively moved the defense out of what they think is their best positioning against you. What I'm talking about here is bunting against the shift, not bunting against a more traditional defense.

[Edgy MD]

Outside of the occasional intentional walk, I think what they want is to get you out.