Bunting is one of the first things that young baseball players learn when growing up. It's one of the most simple plays, but can have a devastating impact on the game.
Since bunting's inception, it has been used in a variety of ways, with the most common being used as a weapon for the game's fasted players and as a way to move runners from first base into scoring position at second base.
Not every team utilizes it, but the strategy most often is found in Little League Baseball. And the Little League World Series is no exception.
"You better believe we are going to bunt," Texas manager Jack Wideman said before the start of the tournament. "If there are runners on first or second base with less than two outs we are going to bunt."
Not every team buys into the strategy, though. In the wake of Michael Lewis' book, "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game," many coaches and players have given bunting a second thought.
"We aren't going to bunt with one out because I think outs are harder to get than anything," Connecticut manager Bill Meury said before the World Series started. "We won't give them an out in order to get a runner to second base."
The book, which focuses around the Oakland Athletics and the team's use of Sabermetrics - the analysis of baseball using objective evidence such as statistics - has brought the art of bunting into new light and has created criticism from coaches and players at every level of play.
In the book, bunting is considered inefficient, unless the team is either trying to score one run to either tie or win the game.
In most cases, the logic behind hitting rather than bunting is that the team is sacrificing one of its three outs in order to move a runner only a fourth of the way around the bases.
Using statistics, the Oakland Athletics - among many individuals and organizations who have discovered similar results - found that letting players swing away saw greater success than having players sacrifice bunt a base runner over.
Regardless of what was discovered, especially since the pro game differs greatly from Little League Baseball, teams in South Williamsport will continue to play small ball.
"They play a lot of small ball in Curacao," Curacao manager Edmiro Chirino said. "We try to play the small game as much as possible."
In Curacao's case, the team has opted to play small ball in order to remain comfortable, despite having five players who have had hits go for extra bases. The team has attempted bunts with hitters throughout the lineup, even those who hit in the middle of the batting order.
Unlike Texas and Curacao, New England Region winner Fairfield, Conn., will be more than happy to swing away with its power hitters.
"We will play small ball if the game is close," Meury said. "Other than that, we want to put the ball in play and force the defense to make plays. If you put the ball in play enough you will string some hits together and score runs."
During Connecticut's four games in South Williamsport it has scored 20 truns on 22 hits, eight of which went for extra bases, and didn't have one sacrifice the entire tournament.
"We aren't going to bunt with the middle of the order," Meury said. "We are going to let those guys hit."
