The Best Bunter of All-Time

The 'Sacrifice Bunt' has become this sort of tired and played-out point of contention between the old and new schools of baseball, and it really is a shame because all the hullabaloo distracts from what is undoubtedly one of the more beautiful events of the game-- the bunt for a hit.

It really is a gorgeous spectacle, and it is not always simply an exhibition of outstanding speed and bat control. With the recent rise of the defensive shift, we've even been blessed with a new form of bunt-- the shift-killer. Whatever the method used, I'd like to pay tribute to those who excelled at it, and ridicule those who embarrassed themselves when attempting to harness its wonder.

The Best

In order to do this, I first needed to design a decent method of measuring the event. Because, while I'm certain some of the more proficient bunters in baseball history did at times bunt for a hit with runners on, I'm afraid attempting to extract those occurrences from plain old sacrifice attempts would get entirely too hairy. I've therefore limited my search to all bunts with the bases empty (or b.e.). That way, there can be absolutely no confusion as to what the batter's intentions were.

I first queried the 100 players who had most often bunted themselves aboard in their careers. I then sorted those 100 players by success rate, presuming this would show us the greatest base-hit bunter of all-time. Here is the best of that group:

Top 10 Bunters with Bases Empty, Career by Hit%

Name	#	_Debut	_Att_	_Hits_	_Hit%_	_Reached%
Lee Mazzilli	1	9/7/1976	40	35	87.5	87.5
Don Blasingame	2	9/20/1955	77	66	85.7	88.3
Steve Garvey	3	9/1/1969	56	46	82.1	82.1
Nellie Fox	4	6/8/1947	43	35	81.4	81.4
Don Kessinger	5	9/7/1964	60	44	73.3	73.3
Matty Alou	6	9/26/1960	123	90	73.2	74.0
Rod Carew	7	4/11/1967	126	91	72.2	72.2
Vada Pinson	8	4/15/1958	44	31	70.5	75.0
Tommy Harper	9	4/9/1962	57	40	70.2	71.9
Pete Rose	10	4/8/1963	93	65	69.9	69.9

All hail, Lee Mazilli! Bunt King!

Well, maybe. As you may have noticed, Mazilli does not take a seat in his throne without a certain amount of controversy. The runner-up to this contest, Don Blasinghouse, scored a Hit% just two percentage points behind that of Mazilli, but his actual rate of Reaching Base while bunting with the bases empty was a marginally superior 88.3%.

Try to imagine for a moment, a batter bunting for a hit 88% of the time he attempted to do so. Although Mazzilli possessed speed enough to capture upwards of 40 bases at times in his career, his high success rate here is attributable in large part to his effective use of the bunt. Lee kept it simple. He didn't over-use his secret weapon. He kept it in his pocket and he knew exactly when to retire it.

A year-by-year inspection reveals that the bulk of Mazzili's Attempts came in a span of four years. He served mostly as a Utility player beyond that, surrendering the bunt-hit from his arsenal as his speed vanished from his skill-set. In fact, only one of his b.e. bunts occurred after his age-27 season, and an enormous 30 of his 35 hits occurred before he turned 26 years old:

Lee Mazilli, Bases Empty Bunting

Year_	Att_	Hits_	Hit%_	Reached%
1976	2	2	100.0	100.0
1977	9	9	100.0	100.0
1978	8	7	87.5	87.5
1979	7	5	71.4	71.4
1980	8	7	87.5	87.5
1981			NULL	NULL
1982	5	4	80.0	80.0
1983			NULL	NULL
1984			NULL	NULL
1985			NULL	NULL
1986			NULL	NULL
1987	1	1	100.0	100.0
1988			NULL	NULL
1989			NULL	NULL

Despite being incredibly efficient in those early years, however, Mazilli still never managed more than 9 of these hits in a single season. That modest number pales in comparison to some of his elite company in the Top 100, specifically a one Brett Butler.

Most Bases Empty Bunt Hits in a Single Season

#	Name	Year	_Attempt	_Hit_	_Hit%	_Reach%
1	Brett Butler	1992	51	29	56.9	56.9
2	Juan Pierre	2003	69	24	34.8	37.7
3	Brett Butler	1993	54	23	42.6	42.6
4	Carlos Gomez	2008	59	23	39	39
5	Kenny Lofton	1992	44	22	50	50
6	Otis Nixon	1991	40	21	52.5	52.5
7	Willy Taveras	2007	30	20	66.7	66.7
8	Juan Pierre	2005	49	20	40.8	44.9
9	Del Unser	1971	24	19	79.2	79.2
12	Don Blasingame	1964	19	18	94.7	100
16	Maury Wills	1965	29	18	62.1	62.1
13	Brett Butler	1991	33	18	54.5	57.6
10	Alex Sanchez	2003	40	18	45	42.5
11	Otis Nixon	1995	40	18	45	47.5
14	Brett Butler	1990	40	18	45	47.5
15	Juan Pierre	2004	43	18	41.9	44.2
17	Tom Tresh	1962	26	17	65.4	65.4
19	Bobby Tolan	1969	30	17	56.7	56.7
18	Brett Butler	1995	32	17	53.1	53.1
21	Frank Taveras	1979	21	16	76.2	76.2
30	Neifi Perez	2002	23	16	69.6	69.6
24	Mike Caruso	1998	25	16	64	64
27	Brett Butler	1988	31	16	51.6	51.6
25	Maury Wills	1963	33	16	48.5	51.5
29	Juan Pierre	2002	38	16	42.1	42.1
20	Willy Taveras	2005	39	16	41	43.6
28	Dave Roberts	2003	39	16	41	46.2
26	Alex Sanchez	2004	40	16	40	40
22	Maury Wills	1964	41	16	39	39
23	Otis Nixon	1997	44	16	36.4	45.5

Brett Butler had the most b.e. bunt hits in a single season with 29 in 1992, at an impressive success rate of 57%. It may not be too much of a shock, therefore, to learn that he also holds the record for most b.e. bunt hits in a career with 188. His career Hit% did not make our Top 10, however, as Butler managed just a 49% success rate in the majors. Still, he deserves ample consideration for our contest.

I've highlighted some of the more exceptional success rates in yellow-- those seasons with at least 60%. Our Reached Base% leader from the first table, Don Blasingame puts the world to shame in this regard, after posting a surreal 95% success rate (17/18) in 1964. Surely this sort of peak puts Don into the running for Best Bunt-Hitter of All-Time, also.

Carlos Gomez and Willy Taveras represent the most recent inductees into this prestigious club, demonstrating their bat-handling prowess in 2007 and 2008 respectively. (Though keep in mind my 2012 retrosheet table is not yet set-up yet, so if any player made the list this season, they would not be receiving credit here either. I am specifically curious to see how Mike Trout fared.)

The Worst

Curiously, Juan Pierre makes the list in four separate seasons, a feat which is second only to Butler's six appearances, yet none of Juan's seasons topped a 42% success rate. This theme of failure was par for the course for Pierre, and it plagued him throughout his entire career. The ugliness ultimately culminated with an atrocious nadir of just 20% (6/30) in 2010:

Juan Pierre, Bases Empty Bunting

Year	_Attempts_	Hits_	Hit%_	Reach%
2000	3		0.0	0.0
2001	33	13	39.4	39.4
2002	38	16	42.1	42.1
2003	69	24	34.8	37.7
2004	43	18	41.9	44.2
2005	49	20	40.8	44.9
2006	34	14	41.2	44.1
2007	33	11	33.3	33.3
2008	17	6	35.3	35.3
2009	8	2	25.0	25.0
2010	30	6	20.0	20.0
2011	35	14	40.0	45.7

Surprisingly, Pierre's god-awful failure rate in 2010, ranks just 5th worst since 1950, for bunters who attempted a b.e. bunt at least 20 times in a season:

Top 10 Worst Bases Empty Bunting Seasons

Name	#	_Year	_Attempt	_Hit_	_Hit%	_Reach%	_wOBA
Willy Taveras	1	2009	22	3	13.6	18.2	.252
Fernando Vina	2	2002	27	4	14.8	14.8	.305
Otis Nixon	3	1989	23	4	17.4	26.1	.268
Darren Lewis	4	1993	22	4	18.2	18.2	.285
Juan Pierre	5	2010	30	6	20.0	20.0	.301
Dave Roberts	6	2004	33	7	21.2	24.2	.317
Nelson Liriano	7	1989	22	5	22.7	22.7	.324
Nook Logan	8	2005	27	7	25.9	25.9	.282
Rafael Furcal	9	2005	30	8	26.7	30.0	.333
Nyjer Morgan	10	2010	25	7	28.0	28.0	.287

In 2009, Willy Taveras was just a season removed from having one of the best b.e. bunting seasons of all time. But that somehow didn't stop him from posting the worst bunting season of all-time at just 3/22. I can only imagine that it is a unique brand of terror witnessing your lead-off hitter fail again and again in such a manner, especially when it is accompanied by a gut-wrenching .553 OPS. While the bunt for a hit really is one of the more esthetically-exhilarating events in the game of baseball, when a player fails at it-- say, by bouncing a grounder back to the pitcher or popping up to the catcher-- it looks profoundly stupid.

Final Note

Most of the hitters on this list of shame strike me as the type that prides themselves on their speed, but could not produce enough offensively to be an effective player. A cursory glance of their wOBA numbers in those seasons supports this assumption. Rafael Furcal leads the group with just a .333 wOBA in 2005, which was barely league-average at the time. Perhaps these players turned to the bunt out of desperation, hoping to use their speed to compensate for their lack of skills at the plate. And It seems that plan didn't always pan out.

Still, neither Pierre nor Otis Nixon appeared to be deterred by their high failure rates and went on to collect enough bunt hits to make the all-time Top 10 anyway. They join the likes of some other names you might expect to make this list-- Maury Wills, Omar Vizquel, Matty Alou, Vince Coleman. But there is also one other name which may surprise you.

Top 10 Bunters with Bases Empty, Career by Hits

Name	#	_Debut_	_Att_	_Hits_	_Hit%_	_Reach%
Brett Butler	1	8/20/1981	385	188	48.8	49.9
Otis Nixon	2	9/9/1983	353	145	41.1	44.5
Juan Pierre	3	8/7/2000	392	144	36.7	38.8
Maury Wills	4	6/6/1959	268	124	46.3	47.0
Kenny Lofton	5	9/14/1991	229	123	53.7	54.6
Rod Carew	6	4/11/1967	126	91	72.2	72.2
Matty Alou	7	9/26/1960	123	90	73.2	74.0
Vince Coleman	8	4/18/1985	190	89	46.8	47.9
Rafael Furcal	9	4/4/2000	211	80	37.9	40.3
Mickey Mantle	10	4/17/1951	148	80	54.1	54.7

The Mick.

Even in Mantle's best season, when he hit for an other-worldly 1.164 OPS and a 202 wRC+, he still managed to lay down 11 bunt-hits with the bases empty. Can you imagine the sort of frustration that this would cause opposing pitchers? Here you are facing one of the greatest hitters to ever play the game, a shoe-in Hall of Famer, a perennial MVP candidate consistently threatening to hit 60 HR a season, and he's bunting on you?!!

That is just completely, utterly ridiculous.

All data from retrosheet, includes post-season, from 1950-2011.

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