Taveras On a Roll

This week on Baseball Prospectus my column focuses on bunting for hits and the remarkable 27 bunt hits by the Rockies' Willy Taveras. At the All-Star break the leaders in bunt hits were:

Name                Bunts    Hits   Pct
Willy Taveras         36      27   .750
Juan Pierre           28       8   .286
Corey Patterson       14       6   .429
Gerald Laird          14       7   .500
Coco Crisp            12       4   .333
Jose Reyes            12       7   .583
Joey Gathright        11       6   .545
Carlos Gomez          11       6   .545
Alfredo Amezaga       10       6   .600
Tony Gwynn            10       4   .400
Reggie Willits        10       4   .400

What's remarkable is not really how often he's tried to lay one down but how often he's been successful at 75%. I also take a look at how this fits into the historical as well as the strategic and situational contexts. But unlike other weeks, this time the article is free as a part of BP's free preview running from July 9th to the 15th.