Luke Raley Is Bunt

Luke Raley is an enormous, sturdy man. The Seattle outfielder stands 6-foot-4, weighs 235 kilos, and spent a lot of his childhood in Ohio felling trees with a chainsaw. He’s obtained an enormous arm, and he’s boasted a most exit velocity at or above the ninetieth percentile in three of the final 4 seasons. Former teammates have referred to as him “an enormous ball of muscle” and stated, “He type of performs like a monster.” Simply final evening he launched a moonshot residence run that reached an altitude of 104 toes. And but in some way, in the event you Google the phrase luke raley feats of power, that is all that comes up:

Initially, sure, Raley is married. He came upon that he obtained traded to Seattle throughout his honeymoon, whereas taking part in pool volleyball. Second, there’s a reasonably good cause that Raley’s power doesn’t headline his search outcomes: He’s greater than only a beef boy. Raley has finesse. The truth is, he’s at present tied with Jacob Young for the foremost league lead with 5 bunts for a base hit. Whereas Younger has a 35.7% success fee on his bunts, Raley is the one participant to this point this decade to bunt for a minimum of 5 hits in a season whereas sustaining a 1.000 batting common on these bunt makes an attempt. Need to guess who’s in second place? That might be 2023 Luke Raley, who went 5-for-6 in his bunt makes an attempt. The massive, sturdy man has an enormous, sturdy bunt sport.

If you happen to return all the best way to 2002, the primary yr we’ve info on bunt success fee, solely three gamers have achieved that feat over a full season. In 2018, Scott Kingery went 5-for-5. In 2019, Matt Olson did the identical, whereas Brandon Belt went 7-for-7. Raley, placing on his bunting clinic with out the good thing about the infield shift, is on tempo for 12 bunt hits this season, however he’d solely want two to tie the document.

That is extraordinarily enjoyable for just a few causes, the primary being that Raley merely doesn’t appear to be the kind of participant who leads the league in bunt hits. Beneath is a graph that reveals each participant with a minimum of 4 bunt hits this season. You recognize in addition to I do which gamers are purported to bunt for hits: Scrappy little guys with a chip on their shoulder who make up for his or her lack of energy with a mixture of pace and grit. And sure, these guys are represented within the graph, however Raley is there too, towering above them. It’s not solely that he’s approach taller than they’re. It’s that he’s simply plain larger. Typically talking, listed weights aren’t that informative since they don’t get up to date with a lot regularity. Nonetheless, it’s price consulting them on this case, provided that Raley outweighs Garrett Hampson, the second participant on the listing, by greater than 50 kilos:

If Raley and Jose Altuve needed to go on a see-saw collectively — and there’s no cause to imagine that they don’t — Altuve would want to stuff his pockets with 214 baseballs in an effort to stability out the load differential. If Raley and Steven Kwan needed to go on a see-saw collectively, Kwan might stability out the differential by stuffing his pockets with 39% of Jose Altuve.

The second cause Raley won’t strike you as a champion bunter is that his run is, effectively, barely hilarious. He kilos the bottom forcefully and kicks his heels up nearly all the best way to his butt with every step. The impact is a kind of optical phantasm; it appears to be like like he’s winding as much as take a huge stride, solely to vary his thoughts and put his foot down just a few inches behind the place he picked it up within the first place. Wrote John Trupin, “Luke Raley runs like he’s not shifting himself quicker, however as a substitute slowing the earth’s rotation with the pressure and friction of every step.” Raley additionally puffs his chest out, extends his fingers away from his physique for max wind resistance, and retains his elbows extraordinarily energetic. He appears to not be pumping his arms a lot as he’s looking for out how far behind him they’re able to extending earlier than one thing in his rotator cuff snaps:

Raley is conscious of all this. He has tried greater than as soon as to change his working model, however fortunately he hasn’t succeeded. “I imply, I see it,” he told reporters. “Belief me. I’ve seen loads of movies of myself taking part in, and I am going, ‘Wow, that appears actually dangerous.’” However right here’s the factor: It really works. Raley is undeniably quick. His 28.8 mph dash pace places him within the 86th percentile, and it makes him not simply the third-fastest participant on the Mariners, however the third-fastest 29-year-old in baseball. He might not appear to be somebody who needs to be bunting for successful, however the success fee doesn’t lie.

To take a look at Raley’s bunts, you may enterprise over to Baseball Savant’s search page and verify absolutely the best of the numerous, many out there packing containers:

There’s one thing delightfully weird concerning the phrase Is Bunt. Not that it’s alone — there are many nice choices right here. Is Blast positively has its charms; it appears like one thing a toddler from the Sixties would ask in the event you tried to clarify what a Slip ‘N Slide was. Is Final Pitch can also be enjoyable, in that it appears like a not-so-vague menace from a pitching coach who doubles as a mob enforcer. However Is Bunt is the perfect. It appears like what the play-by-play announcer screams within the backside of the ninth inning once they’re so shocked by a suicide squeeze that each one grammar and syntax go flying out the window.

Raley has fouled off two bunts this season, making for seven whole makes an attempt. His approach has been the identical on all seven. He’s not drag bunting up the primary bottom line, and he’s not bailing out of the field at prime pace and easily attempting to get the ball down any approach he can. He’s squaring all the best way round pretty early within the pitcher’s supply and pushing the ball firmly between the mound and the third bottom line. Once you pause the video at that time and see Raley hunched over, physique angled towards third base, legs unfold broad, utterly flat-footed, you’d completely guess that he was making an attempt to execute a sacrifice (or presumably to sneak up on Scooby-Doo and his meddling human mates):

However then two issues occur. First, the bunt goes down within the good spot: far sufficient from the third bottom line that it doesn’t threat going foul, agency sufficient to get previous the pitcher, and weak sufficient that the third baseman has to cost arduous. Second, Raley begins working.

His first two official bunt hits got here just because the third baseman was shaded over towards shortstop. Neither bunt even drew a throw, and the second was so completely positioned that third baseman Eugenio Suárez, with no play to make, as a substitute determined to kick it into foul territory:

Raley’s third bunt hit got here with no outs and a runner on second base. The Mariners had been main, 6-5, within the ninth inning, making it an comprehensible time for a sacrifice. Whereas Raley little doubt would have settled for shifting the runner over, he was after extra. Third baseman Ildemaro Vargas declined to barehand the ball, however nonetheless made a rapid, sturdy throw. It simply wasn’t quick sufficient to catch the dashing Raley, who was referred to as out initially, however was proven to have overwhelmed the throw by the slimmest of margins on overview. It wasn’t a shock. It wasn’t making the most of a gap within the protection. It was only a 6-foot-4, 235-pound man beating out a bunt hit in an apparent bunt state of affairs:

Raley’s fourth bunt hit got here final Wednesday. This time, he challenged Maikel Garcia, who has a robust case for being the perfect third baseman in all of baseball. Garcia was taking part in deep, however not essentially out of place, and Raley’s bunt compelled him to make a do-or-die barehanded play. The rushed throw would have overwhelmed Raley had it been on the right track, however it ended up crusing broad and into the Dugout Suite. (The Dugout Suites are fake dugouts located proper subsequent to the precise dugouts in Kauffman Stadium. They characteristic genuine dugout seating, together with an air-conditioned inside space, for once you need to expertise the sport similar to a participant, until it’s heat out. They’re out there to hire for big teams for a mere $4,375, until you need meals or drinks, which value additional.):

Raley’s final bunt hit was positively probably the most thrilling. It got here with the Mariners down by a run within the backside of the eighth inning. With two outs and runners on first and third, it was such a shock that play-by-play announcer Dave Sims was mere moments from merely screaming, “Is bunt! Is bunt!” As an alternative, he yelled, “Bunt! Oh yeah, that’s gonna work!” He popped the B in bunt so loud that it’s important to pity the poor sound engineer whose ear drums had been ruptured by the decision:

Raley had hit two balls above 105 mph within the sport, and but he managed to put down an ideal bunt on a 99.1-mph fastball up and in. With two outs, it was an extremely daring transfer. For the third time this season, the third baseman had no alternative however to eat the ball, and the Mariners would full the comeback within the ninth on a walk-off grand slam by Cal Raleigh. Nobody has bunted for a base hit or a sacrifice on a quicker pitch this season, and Raley’s bunt elevated Seattle’s probabilities of profitable by 30%, making it probably the most consequential play of the sport. Raley, who’s tied for second on the staff with seven residence runs, gave the impression to be in search of the chance to bunt. “The primary two pitches, the third baseman was in and the lane wasn’t there,” he instructed Shannon Drayer. “And after the second pitch, he backed up and I made a decision simply to take my shot… It’s robust, however it’s a kind of issues. You’ve simply obtained to be affected person, get the bunt down, and run as arduous as you may.”

The enjoyable factor about all of that is that Raley’s energy and stature should absolutely be a part of the explanation for his success as a bunter. It’s a must to think about that the truth that he’s gone 10-for-11 on bunts for the reason that begin of final season has made it into scouting stories. Nonetheless, in the event you’re a 3rd baseman who simply watched him blast a 110-mph liner off the wall after which lumber across the bases a pair innings in the past, it could be arduous to imagine that you simply shouldn’t be taking part in deep and shading over towards the outlet. It received’t be till it’s already too late, till you’ve walked over, picked up the perfectly-placed ball, and put it in your pocket that you simply lastly settle for the reality: Luke Raley Is Bunt.