Pros & Cons of bunting with both hands together?

[SoCalSoftballdad]

The traditional bunting technique for a right handed batter is to have the left hand down the handle near the knob of the bat and the right hand near the tapered part of the barrel. Over the past year I have seen some bunters with both hands together, wrapped around the tapered part of the bat. What is the preferred method and why?

 

[cshilt]

Spreading the hand wide apart will give you more control of the bat and provides more stability when the ball impacts the barrel. It can be easier to spot for the defense since the hands spread apart. This is why you'll hear coaches implore their players to "watch her hands" in bunt situations.

With the hands together approach, you can delay showing bunt to the defense and instead just loosen the grip and allow the bat to drop down into position. The trade off is less bat control and accuracy.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

Spreading the hand wide apart will give you more control of the bat and provides more stability when the ball impacts the barrel. It can be easier to spot for the defense since the hands spread apart. This is why you'll hear coaches implore their players to "watch her hands" in bunt situations.

With the hands together approach, you can delay showing bunt to the defense and instead just loosen the grip and allow the bat to drop down into position. The trade off is less bat control and accuracy.

Interesting. Have you actually tried it both ways to see if one way is faster than the other? Since the bat has to be squared around anyways, I don't see how allowing the bat barrel to drop to the top hand first and then squaring around in position helps delay showing the bunt to the defense? The batter using the separated hands method, all she has to do is have the top hand slide down the handle, simultaneously, as she is squaring the bat head. Seems about as efficient as you could get?

 

[cshilt]

You can let the bat drop as you're squaring around to bunt. IDK, potentially it is "sneakier". I'd have to get a stopwatch out or count frames to be sure of a winner. I don't use the hands together approach personally.

One other pro to "hands together" that I neglected to mention is the potential to "slug" or "slap" at the incoming pitch if the defense is charging too hard.

 

[Greenmonsters]

It's also easier to deaden the ball w/ the hands together because the knob moves forward upon barrel impact. IME, there's a lot of jabbing/lunging that results in pop ups until its mastered. Personally, I like the hands apart and liken it to a video game where the bat is the cursor that gets adjusted height wise to intercept the ball by flexing the knees. With the arms extended away from the body, the hitter can see both the bat and the ball and adjust to create the intercept. Regardless, the key is to practice, practice, practice, and then practice more

 

[mrslug01]

I like the stability of the hands apart. Also don't like the hands together as you're more likely to get hit in the bottom hand if it's that far up the bat. The top hand is on the back side of the bat so less likely to get hit. But the bottom one is wrapped around the front of it.

 

[SBFAMILY]

USA Softball Merchandise I suggest anyone teaching bunting or slapping watch this video by Team USA. It covers the above subject. We slap with the hands together, but never bunt that way.

 

[jinjet95]

My DD is a lefty and when she sacrifice bunts, she uses separated hands, but when bunting for a hit, keeping her hands together allows her more options dependant upon the defense. I do agree that it takes more time to master as it is harder to control the head of the bat, but as part of a running start, it works quite well.

 

[StacieM]

My sacs are done hands more apart, but not too far. Quick bunts I kind of just let my bat drop down like someone described and my hands are close together.

Annoying thing is that even though I'm not in training, I can still bunt better than most player I work with. Granted that's probably due more to hand-eye coordination rather than how I hold the bat. Definitely something our team needs to work on. My DD too, she used to be so good at bunting - recently I think she's trying to be too sneaky and tends to foul everything off.

I do agree there's more control with hands apart.

Plus if hands together isn't working well for a player and hands apart gets the job done, then they really need to be open to switching. So many aren't for whatever reason.

 

[Greenmonsters]

My sacs are done hands more apart, but not too far. Quick bunts I kind of just let my bat drop down like someone described and my hands are close together.

Annoying thing is that even though I'm not in training, I can still bunt better than most player I work with. Granted that's probably due more to hand-eye coordination rather than how I hold the bat. Definitely something our team needs to work on. My DD too, she used to be so good at bunting - recently I think she's trying to be too sneaky and tends to foul everything off.

I do agree there's more control with hands apart.

Plus if hands together isn't working well for a player and hands apart gets the job done, then they really need to be open to switching. So many aren't for whatever reason.

Absolutely agree. If they can consistently get the job done, I don't care how they hold their hands! But, if it ain't working, we revert to simple and traditional. If they're not open to it, they can have a front row seat and watch how its supposed to be done.