How to defend the Sacrifice Bunt with runner on 1st. Clip from LLWS 2017 SW Regional.

How to defend the bunt. Stopping the sac bunt with man on first base is typically easier for the defense than it is for the offense. Using the LLWS 2017 Southwest Championship game, we break down what the batter should do as well as the defense.
Bunting is probably under played at the youth level. But youth players aught to be taught when to use it and how as well as how to defend these offensive plays because the action all happens very quickly and one player out of position can make all the difference.

[@joshkristof2457]

Thanks man im a 12 year old catcher and all your videos help me perform in the real game. Thank you

[@skipperjan3456]

15M views Me to I have made many mistakes on this play now I now how to defend the play better

[@jordanborges986]

15M views Hang in there kid I’ll get there. I’m a 15 year old catcher and play for San Leandro high school. Make sure to keep your defensive and hitting skills up so that when you get to high school ball, you will start

[@joshkristof2457]

I dont Even know ok i will. Thanks for the support

[@aidenmcvickers3647]

15M views iii

[@encellon]

At MLB dimensions there's usually a bit more time to make a throwing decision. In little league, with 60 feet to run, almost any sort of sac bunt that lands on the ground should be thrown to first base. Once you know what to do, the next most important step is practice ...bunting and fielding bunts until the whole thing is second nature.

[@jordanborges986]

Throw to second. The runner has a huge gap between second and himself

[@matthewlaird4009]

I dont Even know that's irrelevant because the pitcher can't see how big the gap is, it's behind him and he needs to pick the ball up AND turn 180° he doesn't know he has time to stop and plant for the throw so he makes it as fast as possible and just overthrows. The play at first is easy, he can see the runner and only needs to turn 45°. In a regular season game you can risk an inaccurate throw but in a championship you need to take the sure out.

[@2AForever-wi8yj]

gap wasn't that big and the pitcher didn't have the ball yet and would have to do a 180, pick up the fielder and throw and when the video was stopped the kid was 35 feet from second and at full speed. to throw play was to first. ( and yes I said that the instant he paused the video. It was a no brainer. get the out.

[@loganhughes2935]

Yeah, the base runner got a bad jump

[@brucemercer7753]

That is Major League thinking. College Thinking. High School Thinking. This is Little League. You have to adjust your thinking to meet the skill level of the players and the distance between the bases. These are 60 bases vs 90 foot bases. You are better off taking the ROUTINE PLAY to 1st Base to get the sure OUT. Your Pitcher has made the play to 1st 1,000 times... your 1st Baseman has made this play 10,000 time. They are CONFIDENT in what they are doing and will succeed. - Your Short Stop and 2nd Basemen RARELY make this play and your Pitcher has likely NEVER made this play at this age group. And the PRESSURE is on. So your Pitcher may try to rush the Fielding to make the throw and make an error. He is likely to rush and make a bad throw (like he did). Your SS in this case (or your 2B) is NOT your 1st Basemen for several reasons. This play is not his "specialty". He is usually shorter than 1B with a smaller Catch Radius. He might be thinking do I have to tag,,, is it a force,,, which adds the element of mental distraction 1B does not have. No matter how well you have Coached him he (like in this example) is not AUTOMATIC like 1B on finding the base and being ready to make the Catch. - You take ALL of the RISK on making the throw to 2nd... and if it does not work... you get ZERO REWARD. Now they have 2 on base... you could have a just put the Winning Run on 2nd with NO OUTS instead just having the Tying Run on 2nd with 1 Out. All hope is not lost but you chance of closing it out for the WIN is diminished. That tying Runner on 2nd with 1 OUT is you make the ROUTINE PLAY is relying on other Youth Players to bring him HOME. They probably need at least 2 Hits to WIN or TIE but you only need 2 OUTS to get the WIN. With just a little Luck you WIN this game. A Pop Fly, a Ball Stopped by your Infield for another Routine Play to 1st, a Sacrifice Fly followed by a Good Throw, a STRIKE OUT and you are just 1 OUT AWAY. They have to MAKE IT HAPPEN... they have to take all the RISK. You just have do exactly what you taught the to do all season.

[@rae2071]

I know what the textbook reads but assuming the catcher knows his SS and P this was not a bad read. Had the SS set up the way he should have there was more than enough time if the catcher’s communication is successful and the pitcher makes a good throw. Of course, this is three if’s and unless he has very high confidence in the players there is a lot of risk.

[@chuckellenwood8462]

Wrong! Bunt should go to third not first also shortstop should be covering third Not 2nd. You are giving them 2nd and the out should be at first base. If you notice in this video nobody is covering third so if the defense went to first which is the safe and correct play the runner from first will take third because nobody is covering

[@ekujj13]

Center fielder should be put in time out.

[@dominicharrington992]

I would’ve told the pitcher to throw to second because 1. There are no outs, so you want to get the lead runner and have a possible double play situation 2. Runner didn’t steal 3. It’s 5 inning, so might be difficult to take the lead again.

[@aidenfaurote]

I would tell him to throw first. I’m not relying on a 12 year old to turn 189 degrees to throw to second with not really anybody in a good spot to back him up

[@Moparmaga-1]

If you watch this video without audio, it turn into how "not to" defend a bunt runner on 1st

[@Moparmaga-1]

John Smith read my text again. It was a joke. I watched it without audio

[@Moparmaga-1]

John Smith how old are you ?

[@paulbaron4394]

throw it to second base because there is a big gap between the fielder and the lead runner

[@yoigurlbethw1741]

In this situation you would actually steal on the bunt play so you would get the base.

[@MJHBaseball]

There are no lead offs in the LLWS. They can't steal bases, only delay steal since they can not leave the base bag until the pitched ball reaches the batter.

[@thegreatcerebral]

I disagree with the video. In 8U - 10U (at least) when you have this play you want your batter to bunt to 3B side not 1B. It needs to be about where this one was if not a little shorter OR a little towards the pitcher. If you watch this play again you will see why... 3B. He abandons his base entirely which means that if they go for the sure out at 1B you now have a runner at 3B OR even better they attempt a throw to 3B and you score. I have coached against this enough at those levels to know that you have to keep 3B at home and rotate towards 1B with 2B having to cover1B. Like you made mention the batter will square to show early to get everyone moving meaning you have enough time for the rotation right. There is no "fake bunt swings" (or whatever you call it) at these levels so your players should be crashing hard. Also you can coach your pitcher to throw a super slow pitch when he sees this if need be which will give tons of time if you want to try to turn a double-play. This is how you do it at the pro level or maybe when bases are further apart or when arms are more mature and wild throws are less likely to happen but not here.

[@rae2071]

I’m in 2021… at this time slash bunts are legal. We actually failed to check this rule when at our state tournament, since our local rules prohibited it we assumed falsely that it was LLI’s rule. Opponent tried it and failed thankfully since we were crashing full throttle. That said, there’s almost no chance using a sub and in an absolute sac bunt situation that a slash bunt would have been attempted here.

[@dtw8686]

Think the answer here is to play on a field bigger than girls softball.

[@timothy8045]

John Smith I’m 13 and my field are bigger

[@timothy8045]

John Smith I live Illinois

[@BobbiRiley-y6w]

Breitenberg Ramp

[@WodehousMaggie-g4b]

Hollis Inlet

[@sharko6899]

Throw to second because it is closer to home but you want to prevent runs

[@baseballa0012]

Colorful Jellyfishy hi

[@kylermeredith3601]

that is not what the defense should have done first base should crash third base should stay home so the runner on first can not go to third, second covers first and shortstop covers second, pitcher covers third base side.

[@golfnutt8]

Throw to second. The pitcher made a horrible throw and then the outfielder totally blew it as the backup.

[@gfgfghgh-w7x]

Kuhlman Throughway

[@carsonschornick636]

Second base should have covered second and shortstop should have covered third

[@MJHBaseball]

And leave no back up to a throw to 1st? Third baseman should have retreated back to his base once he didn't field the ball, however.

[@bcityy]

Adrenaline...really? You mean age or skill or raw talent.

[@andrewshnayderman3389]

The purple team won because they’re lufkin and I remember they were in Williamsport

[@MalachiHalifax-t4e]

Schumm Mountain

[@vsxolarroyyt7712]

3rds not covered that’s an easy base if he’s safe.how it should work is the corners charge ss covers 3rd and 2nd covers 1st then your center fielder will cover 2nd

[@workinron]

2 base

[@dimitripapadopoulos5631]

Throw 1

[@landonwells7392]

I’m an 11 year old catcher and I would go to first

[@starszn558]

Today I threw 30 pitches in the 3 innings I pitched today and went 2 for 4 batting Is that good (I’m 11)

[@mikedonovan9033]

Ask your coach.

[@homerunandrew2343]

Today I threw 57 pitches in 8 innings and went 6 for 6 hitting we won 13 to 2

[@iansquires7408]

U must suck to tell other people how good u did

[@brydonmckibben5806]

Not horrible batting for a pitcher

[@yoigurlbethw1741]

I mean your 11 and it depends on how good was the team you were facing.

[@drasonrecio3847]

1

[@ytbaxky5824]

Second and try to turn 2

[@kylermeredith3601]

Brittan G. that won’t work bases are too short i play on sixty foot bases and runners are too fast

[@ericepandahernandez2211]

-2nd