Bunting is often an overlooked skill. Except for the rare occurrence of the suicide squeeze, bunting generally does not generate much excitement for the average fan. But as much as people may disagree as to how often and in what situations a bunt should be used, we all know the pain of watching a player square around to bunt only to pop it up, bunt it straight at a fielder, or even strike out. Therefore, each year we like to recognize the best bunter in baseball with the Flat Bat Award.
First, let's look at who had the best seasons on bunt hit attempts. Here are the top batting averages on bunt hits for players with 10 or more successful bunt hits:
2011 Bunt Hit Leaders
|
| Player |
Bunt Hit Results |
Batting Average |
Brett Gardner, NYY
|
11 for 18
|
.611 |
| Emilio Bonifacio, Fla |
16 for 27 |
.593 |
| Peter Bourjos, LAA |
17 for 29 |
.586 |
| Corey Patterson, Tor/StL |
10 for 19 |
.526 |
| Alexi Casilla, Min |
10 for 19 |
.526 |
| Danny Espinosa, Was |
10 for 19 |
.526 |
| Michael Bourn, Hou/Atl |
12 for 24 |
.500 |
| Juan Pierre, CWS |
19 for 39 |
.487 |
| Erick Aybar, LAA |
14 for 32 |
.438 |
The top bunters in baseball continue to hit over .500 on bunt hit attempts, as in previous years.
Next, we have the players who had the best seasons in sacrifice situations, listed here by percentage of sacrifice attempts that were successful for players with 15 or more attempts:
| 2011 Sacrifice Bunt Leaders |
| Player |
Sacrifice Bunt Results |
Percentage
|
Omar Infante, Fla
|
17 out of 17 |
100% |
| Livan Hernandez, Was |
15 out of 15 |
100% |
| Austin Jackson, Det |
14 out of 15 |
93% |
| Chris Getz, KC |
14 out of 15 |
93% |
| Alcides Escobar, KC |
18 out of 20
|
90% |
| Elvis Andrus, Tex |
16 out of 18 |
89% |
| Roy Halladay, Phi |
16 out of 18 |
89% |
| Nyjer Morgan, Mil |
15 out of 17 |
88% |
| Juan Pierre, CWS |
19 out of 22
|
86% |
| Jeff Mathis, LAA |
14 out of 17 |
82% |
Juan Pierre was the most prolific bunter in baseball by far this season with 61 total bunt attempts. Accordingly, Pierre led all of baseball in successful bunt hits (19) and successful sacrifice bunts (19). However, Pierre's success rates were not particularly impressive, as he failed on more than half of his bunt hit attempts (.487 batting average) and failed on three of his sacrifice attempts (tied for most among players on this list).
The winner of the past two Flat Bat Awards has been Erick Aybar. He again was among the most prolific bunters in the game this year with 42 total bunt attempts, second only to Pierre. However, he had a disappointing season this year on bunt hits, where, like Pierre, he failed on more than half of his attempts (.438 batting average).
All told, the player that had the best season bunting this year was Emilio Bonifacio. Bonifacio had the second highest batting average on bunt hit attempts (.593), the third most bunt hits (16), a perfect sac bunt percentage (11 out of 11) and was just behind Aybar in total attempts (38).
Therefore, congratulations to Emilio Bonifacio for winning the 2011 Flat Bat Award!