Say goodbye to sacrifice bunts

On Thursday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the designated hitter is expected to be coming to the National League in 2022.

Whether or not you’re a fan of the move, it’s certainly the end of an era. Personally, I will welcome it with open arms as it will certainly benefit the Dodgers. They’ll be able to shuffle guys in the lineup and get guys off their feet.

With that being said, there is one thing in particular I’ll miss more than anything. Clayton Kershaw’s sacrifice bunts. Not only was Kershaw the best pitcher of the last decade, but he was arguably the best bunter.

Seriously, nobody did it better.

Over his big-league career, Kershaw has 110 sacrifice hits. That’s the most in baseball since Kershaw made his debut in 2008. The next closest pitcher is Johnny Cueto with 90.

Kershaw has led baseball in sacrifices twice during his career. In 2010 he had a career-high 18 and then in 2019 he had 15. He had a down year in 2021, only recording two sacrifices, the lowest of his career.

To honor the GOAT, I compiled a two minute video consisting of his successful bunts. Maybe Kershaw will be called upon in extra innings to get one down moving forward. But if this is the last of it, we witnessed one of the best to ever do it.

Links

• Ben Clemens at Fangraphs had a fun piece, comparing two hypothetical starting rotations and which would be better (spoiler: give me the one with Julio Urias)
• It’s nearly the 27-year anniversary of Hideo Nomo signing with the Dodgers. Andrew Simon at MLB.com breaks down how he pioneered the path for a generation of future players.