Major League Baseball teams are turning to bunts more often this season as hitters struggle against high-velocity pitching. Several low-budget clubs lead the league in both sacrifice attempts and bunt hits through early May. The trend marks a shift from years of declining use of the play.
Rays manager Kevin Cash noted the difficulty of hitting in the current era. “We’re probably understanding and learning, as an industry, that hitting is [expletive] hard,” he said. Teams have responded by increasing bunts, with the rate of bunt hits the highest since 2015 and sacrifice attempts the highest since 2021.