One of the most magical moments in baseball was once the home run, but as the years pass home runs have become just a routine part of the game. Seeing a team win without hitting at least one home run is no longer commonplace, it is just the opposite. Teams live and die by the homer, and this trend is helping to ruin baseball. This sentiment may make me less popular than Barry Bonds and Tim McCarver combined, but it needs to be said. You can call me a hypocrite, since the Red Sox have relied on the long ball for years. Home runs fueled the Sox to the 2004 World Series victory and homers helped David Ortiz win the last two MVP awards (neither Justin Morneau or Alex Rodriguez were the most valuable player on their own team, let alone the league, so their awards should be given to Ortiz). So how can I dislike home runs? All you need to do is see how the strategy, or lack there of, in baseball has disappeared, thus draining the intelligence out of the game.
Some players make the major leagues due to their ability to hit home runs, and I have no problem with that. Ryan Howard is a giant and I wouldn’t expect him to become a slap hitter trying to drop down bunts every game. The problem I have is with players that have been conditioned by organizations to sacrifice speed and flexibility to focus on becoming power hitters. There are many ways to score runs in baseball and home runs have become too large of a focus. A low level minor league player that hits .300 with 10 home runs and 30 steals will usually be overlooked for promotions when compared to a player that plays the same position and hits .275 with 25 home runs and has nominal speed. Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine were dead on when they were part of Nike’s “Chicks dig the long ball,” add campaign. Home runs are the get rich quick scheme of baseball, while manufacturing runs is becoming a thing of the past. Shame on baseball for forcing strategy and small ball out of the game.
The most dangerous offensive weapon is not a home run but the ability to force your opponent to make extra outs. Using speed, bunting, and strategy puts pressure on the other team to play mistake free defense (mentally as well as physically) and most teams will end up giving away extra chances, whether it be through committing errors or being out of position. An intelligent player can make sure he never falls into a slump, just ask Hall of Famer Rod Carew. When Carew would start to struggle at the plate he would drop down a few bunts, even if they ended up being foul balls or outs. The infield would then have to reposition themselves to guard against the bunt, thus opening up more room to hit. Paul Molitor and even the lead-footed Wade Boggs used the bunt to their advantage. Very few players today know how to use the bunt effectively. Most bunts outside of the fastest players in the league (Ichiro, Juan Pierre, etc) are usually sacrifices, and generally done by pitchers. Players need to get back to using the bunt as a weapon, even if it is just to put the fear of the bunt in their opponents’ head. Watching players with great speed, but no idea how to bunt drives me crazy. Coco Crisp has spent the last two seasons in Boston unable to find his hitting stroke, and then attempting to beat out bunt hits. If Crisp could lay down a bunt that didn’t go directly to an infielder than he would be able to get on base more often, setting the table for guys like David Ortiz or Manny Ramirez. The best player in baseball at utilizing the bunt may just be American League home run champion David Ortiz. After watching teams put three infielders on the right side of second base and putting the third baseman where the shortstop usually stands against left handed pull hitters such as Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds made me wonder why they just didn’t drop a bunt down the third base line. If you run hard out of the box and bunt the ball through the infield than you could possibly get a bunt double. When teams started to use the shift against Ortiz I wondered why he didn’t just drop down a bunt with no runners on base, just to see what happened. Shortly after I wrote about this strategy in a column a few years ago Ortiz began to drop down some bunts against the shift. The result was a few foul balls, a few bunt hits, and a defense that was forced to stay on its toes. Ortiz used the bunt to change the way teams defended pull hitter approach, and his ability to catch the opposition flat footed increased his value to the Red Sox.
Another myth that needs to be shot down is that you can’t steal first base. It might not be as easy as stealing second but you can steal first. When a player busts his BLEEP down the line and beats out an infield hit on a routine play that it is not only as good as stealing first, but makes the other team work to get another out. A fast runner can cause an infielder to rush on what would be a close play, either making the fielder bobble the ball or throw it away. Turning an out into a runner at first is as good as stealing first, if not even better.
While every team would love to have a roster full of players that can hit forty homers and have blazing speed, that isn’t a reality. Teams have to find a balance of players that can hit for power, that can get on base and be a pest for opponents, and players that can do a bit of everything to win. The ability to win the mental battle of baseball is crucial for a successful team. Teams that can outthink their opponents (as opposed to try to overpower them) and do the little things to manufacture runs on a consistent basis will be the teams that are the most likely to walk away with a World Series trophy come November.
