“You better believe we are going to bunt,”

Are there Japanese girls pitching?

What is the average # of runs scored per game in the LLWS? If it is around 3, bunting might make sense, esp. if you have some young phenom throwing 75 MPH heat on the mound.

Is it fair to apply Major League results to Little League play? Maybe bunting is the best for these kids?

It's not fair to apply Little League results to Little League World Series play. It's pretty unlikely that any of the kids you see in Williamsport would ever be asked to bunt before they get to their state tournaments.

A bun...t?

Maybe bunting is the best for these kids?

Wouldn't it be a useful baseball skill to learn? I mean, little league is about developing skills, right?

When I was a kid you weren't allowed to bunt.

On 60' base paths with typical 12/13 year old fielders, a good quick bunter is probably going to do better than trying to actually get a hit off some of the better pitchers. Of course, that's if he's trying to actually get on, rather than sacrifice. The real problem is the number of youth coaches who think moving a runner over with less than 2 outs is some sort of magic run-generating strategy. Around here, 12/13 is 70'/80' basepaths and 50'/54' mounds, and you're mostly playing on crappy dirt infields against pitchers who don't throw as hard as the studs in the LLWS, so bunting rarely makes sense vs just trying to hit it hard and let the poor field conditions/defense help you out, yet we still see it a lot in "sacrifice situations".

Most of the players in the LLWS have already played travel ball on 70', 80', or even 90' diamonds.

What is the average # of runs scored per game in the LLWS? If it is around 3, bunting might make sense, esp. if you have some young phenom throwing 75 MPH heat on the mound.

Yea, I don't really have a problem bunting if its a low scoring game in a must-win game scenario. Just like Dave Roberts steal in the ALCS, bunts and steals can be useful strategies if deployed very rarely and at the right moment.

I also have to wonder about the hitting disparities among players. Some of these players may be pretty crummy hitters in comparison to the other players, on the team insetad for their glove, so to get them to bunt would be like asking the pitcher to bunt in an NL game.

must-win game scenario

These tourneys can bring out the worst, sometimes, in sportsmanship. One can often be involved in a (say) 9-0 game in the fourth where the winning team is clearly far superior to some collection of scrubs from a lesser league, and they "pour it on" by stealing home to end it on a mercy rule. Everybody in the stands knew there was no way the other team would ever score a run, let alone 10, but the "winners" want to get off the field and preserve pitchcounts for the next game, so it's all fine. The losing kids mostly don't get to bat twice.

#3 Szym has pointed out that an awful lot of what is now stathead conventional wisdom only applies at the highest level.

No idea what the error rate on a bunt in LLWS is but it's certain to be higher than it is in the majors. It's almost certainly a viable play if the kid is a good bunter.

No idea what the error rate on a bunt in LLWS is but it's certain to be higher than it is in the majors. It's almost certainly a viable play if the kid is a good bunter.

Yep. And in LL that isn't LLWS-level, ever so much more so.
When I coached Little League, I had all the kids learn how to bunt. If nothing else, it's a great in-between step for kids who tend to bail out because they're afraid of the ball.

When I coached Little League, I had all the kids learn how to bunt. If nothing else, it's a great in-between step for kids who tend to bail out because they're afraid of the ball.

Learning to bunt is a terrific way to learn to just watch the ball and meet it with the bat. It's a lot like just catching it, receiving it (with the "give" that a good bunter displays) with the meat end of the bat instead of with the glove. It helps to teach pitch recognition and strike zone judgment.

Learning to bunt is a terrific way to learn to just watch the ball and meet it with the bat.

My son's HS hitting career completely turned around on when he was asked to bunt in a big spot early in his sophomore season (tie game, late innings, first and second nobody out, top of the order on-deck). He tentatively fouled off the first two pitches. Coach kept the bunt on. Three real good takes later, he got a beauty down and not only advanced the runners but nearly beat it out. It was like he learned how to see the ball in that one PA.