Pinch-bunting for a pitcher... how often did this really happen?

[uruguru]

I've seen this happen before and it seems off to me.

In the latest case, my RP Tom Burgmeier (sac bunt rating: 36) had thrown a couple of innings in relief and came up to bat in the 8th inning with a runner on 1st with no outs.

So the AI manager pinch-hit Lou Piniella for him (sac bunt rating: 32) and bunted the guy over the 2B.

Piniella did not stay in the game, but was repaced by RP Fred Norman (sac bunt rating: 27).

It seems confusing to me. If the AI wanted to bunt the runner over, it would have made more sense to let Burgmeier lay down the bunt instead of wasting a position player in a tie game that could very well go to extra innings (and did).

Even the previous game's starter had a sac bunt rating of 39 and could have been used. However, I understand that the game generally won't use pitchers as pinch-hitters unless they are marked as two-way players, but why not as pinch-bunters?

I'm just curious as to everyone's thoughts on this and if anyone can actually search historical data to see if pinch-bunting was actually a thing back in the day when teams bunted.

[alkeiper]

Baseball-Reference has splits by position. Both for leagues and for players

https://www.baseball-reference.com/l...year=1969#defp

You can see "as PH" and then there's a column for sacrifice hits. You can kind of ballpark it from there.I looked at Piniella's career numbers and he sacrificed as a PH twice in his career. Both were not for the pitcher though, and one is a clear squeeze bunt. I wouldn't say common, but it happened occasionally.

[Brad K]

Unfortunately we don't know the total number of ABs where it was attempted.

[uruguru]

Originally Posted by alkeiper

Baseball-Reference has splits by position. Both for leagues and for players

https://www.baseball-reference.com/l...year=1969#defp

You can see "as PH" and then there's a column for sacrifice hits. You can kind of ballpark it from there.I looked at Piniella's career numbers and he sacrificed as a PH twice in his career. Both were not for the pitcher though, and one is a clear squeeze bunt. I wouldn't say common, but it happened occasionally.

Yeah, that link shows 17 sac bunts in over 2900 PH appearances for 1969 AL. I suspect many of those were squeeze plays. Either way, 17 out of 3000 seems extremely rare.

And in my case, you are using a PH who has a lower sac bunt rating than the guy he's pinch-hitting for.

[Brad K]

The game decided the situation called for a bunt but decided that after deciding the situation called for a PH.

[uruguru]

Originally Posted by Brad K

The game decided the situation called for a bunt but decided that after deciding the situation called for a PH.

Yes, I totally agree that's likely what happened.

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by uruguru

Yes, I totally agree that's likely what happened.

Do you think that would be an easy fix? I'm not sure.

[uruguru]

Originally Posted by Brad K

Do you think that would be an easy fix? I'm not sure.

I'm a software developer. I know better than to opine on the difficulty of making a code change in code that I've never seen.

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by uruguru

I'm a software developer. I know better than to opine on the difficulty of making a code change in code that I've never seen.

Good for you! We need more people like that.

[Pelican]

It seems to me that a good career hitter like Piniella was wasted in a bunting situation, and his rating reflects that. Maybe "Bugs" was gassed, and a new RP was needed, but wouldn't there be another hitter (or possibly a pitcher) on the bench with better bunting skills? LOL I rarely use sacrifices, even playing in the Deadball era, so I literally don't know what I am talking about, in terms of OOTP play.