Baseball Hitting Drills: The Bunting Cone Drill

Bunting can be an extremely useful approach in certain circumstances. Make sure you can lay down a quality bunt by practicing with this indoor training drill.

When it comes to baseball, a lot of attention gets thrown at the home run, the long ball, the dinger. While a home run is flashy and fun, it’s the bunt that can really rocket a team to victory. A well-executed bunt can help advance runners, mix up defenses and can be pulled off by any batter. It’s skill rather than strength that gives the bunt its bite, so taking the time indoors to help those talents blossom is important.

Champion Youth Baseball Coach Branndon Pezzelle has a quick and easy drill for batters to use in their indoor training routines. The Bunting Cone Drill can be great to help get you focused on your hands when you’re bunting and teach you how to push the ball to different sides of the infield. You can set up this drill to focus on bunts to the third base line, as well as the first base line. A majority of bunting situations are going to call for a bunt toward third base, however, so focus on this angle for now.

To start a Bunting Cone Drill to the third base side, place two cones roughly 10 yards from home plate along the base line. Have an additional fielder at third base to make ball retrieval easier. Your aim should be to bunt the ball between these two cones.

In order to accomplish this, keep your bat barrel high and focus on your hands as you receive the pitches. Where you position your lower hand will determine the direction of your bunt.

“You tilt the hand in more, you’re going to bunt down the third base line,” says Pezzelle.

If you want to work on bunting to the first base side, simply flip the field and have the cones along that base line. Instead of pulling your lower hand in, you’ll push the lower end out a little in order to bunt to this side.

Bunting to the third base side can be beneficial to have in your arsenal. According to Pezzelle, a bunt to third base can help advance a runner from second by pulling in the third baseman, or it can be useful in a squeeze situation when you’re trying to score a runner from third.

A well-executed bunt can be a useful tool for your next plate appearance. Tackle this talent during your next indoor baseball practice to help improve your skills at bat.