During Rick Renteria's hero's welcome at his second SoxFest as manager in 2018, a fan stepped in to ask him about his overreliance on the bunt. The question drew applause from the otherwise adoring crowd, but Renteria squirmed out of the pin by placing some of the blame on hitters going rogue.
“Actually there were a couple of opportunities there where, to be honest, we didn’t put the bunt on. And our players thought they would be helping the club by executing the particular play there where to be honest we didn’t put the bunt on. And our players thought that they would be helping the club by executing that particular play. I don’t want to throw my players under the bus. Believe me, there were times when they came in after trying to bunt, I went, “OK, I really wanted you to try to swing the bat there, because I think you might be able to pop one.”
In the season following that answer, Renteria looked somewhat justified in deflecting some responsibility. The White Sox went from league-high in 2017 to roughly league-average in 2018. That's not quite cold turkey, but it showed progress.
But then he backslid last season, so Chantix might want to hold off on using him as a pitchman just yet.
| Year | SacA | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 47 | 1st |
| 2018 | 28 | 6th |
| 2019 | 35 | 2nd |
Given the fluctuation in this particular column, I trusted the content of Scott Merkin's tweet ...
... but I needed to verify it.
And alas. I mean, that was a problem, too. Both Ricks stressed defensive improvement from the most glaring positions last year. Rick Hahn said he expects Tim Anderson to contend for a Gold Glove at some point, while Renteria said Eloy Jiménez will surpass expectations in left field as long as he respects the task. Throw in Yasmani Grandal behind the plate and Nomar Mazara's mediocrity beating Daniel Palka's haplessness, and the Sox have reason to be sounder around the diamond.
But if you're looking for feel-good rhetoric from the White Sox manager, you'll have to abandon the specific idea of bunting, take his overarching view on the team's expectations, and try to apply them elsewhere.
"I would be disappointed if we don’t make the postseason. That would be accurate," said Renteria, who also spoke at Thursday’s press conference. "We want to break through. We want this to be an impactful season."
“You can’t force those things. You have to allow them to play themselves out. But man for man, now we at least have a little bit more ammunition to be able to go out and compete, hopefully, on a consistent basis and put those victories on the board.”
If you want to believe Renteria will get out of his team's way now that they have the talent to win more often than not, the concept of "ammunition" goes further than anything else. Renteria said he doesn't have a specific batting order in mind at them moment, but look at the probable starting nine and ask where the bunts are going to come from:
- Luis Robert, CF
- Yoan Moncada, 2B
- Jose Abreu, 1B
- Yasmani Grandal, C
- Eloy Jiménez, LF
- Edwin Encarnacion, DH
- Nomar Mazara, RF
- Tim Anderson, SS
- Nick Madrigal, 2B
Madrigal will probably bunt his fair share, but as part of his overall Hot Local Singles approach. Robert might bunt to reach, depending on where he's hitting in the lineup and how his high-motor approach guides him to wreak havoc. Nobody else who factored prominently in Renteria's bunting plans last year figures to get nearly as much playing time this year. In fact, most of them aren't even in the organization anymore.
Going through Baseball Savant, here's the list of White Sox players who had more than one potentially frustrating bunting attempt in 2019. I'm counting those fouled off, those whiffed, and those that were successful but resulted in an out.
| Player | Foul | Missed | Sac | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yolmer Sánchez | 13 | 3 | 7 | 23 |
| Leury García | 10 | 1 | 11 | 22 |
| Adam Engel | 12 | 2 | 1 | 15 |
| Ryan Cordell | 6 | 1 | 6 | 13 |
| Jon Jay | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| Ryan Goins | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Jose Rondón | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Yoan Moncada | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Charlie Tilson | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Nicky Delmonico | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
It's an ugly list, but also a heartening one. Moncada's the only one who 1) should get more than 200 plate appearances in 2020 and 2) has a bad habit to break. His three unsuccessful bunt attempts were all terrible ideas that I doubt Renteria called. However, I don't think it's unfair to call those bunt attempts that Renteria inspired. Similar bunts were demanded and applauded in similar situations elsewhere in the lineup, and perhaps the dugout is having difficulty keeping messages unmixed.
The hope is that the idea of "ammunition" permeates everything, from the signs Renteria sends to his coaches to what talented hitters like Moncada deem appropriate in the moment. If the projected home run increase materializes early, this might be the year Renteria feels like he's playing for one run every time one of his non-Madrigal hitters is swinging away.
