Lance Lynn is not a fan of bunting. Especially if it is done against him.
On Wednesday Andrew Velazquez laid down a bunt for a single in the bottom of the second inning. Lynn, being a high-calorie individual was slow getting off the mound to field the ball. It’s surprising more teams have not tried to bunt off of Lynn, but I guess when you have a 6.47 ERA there is no need to try and steal hits.
Either way, Lynn was not amused by Velazuez’s creativity. He had already given up four runs to that point and had two on and nobody out. Velaquuez’s bunt seemed to fire him up because he proceeded to get Mickey Moniak to fly out and then struck out Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani to end the inning.
After the game, Lynn was asked about the bunt by Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Yeah. I don’t like it”
“Why? Grown man swing the bat.”
“He tried it again, too. That was embarrassing. Some people search for hits.”
“Fire you up?” Van Schouwen asked.
“I didn’t really need a reason but that helps for sure.”
This isn’t the first time Lynn has been mad about people bunting against him. During the second game of a doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles in 2021, Ryan Mckenna tried to square up against him, and then Lynn quickly dispatched of him with three fastballs in the zone then rolled his eyes as McKenna walked to the bench.
The only problem with Lynn’s comments, especially the “grown men swing the bat,” remark, is that one of his teammates, Zach Remillard loves bunting. When he isn’t producing a clutch two-out single, Remillard is usually squaring up to bunt.
He has tried bunting for a hit, bunting to move a runner over and sometimes bunts even when there is no plausible explanation for bunting. Remillard’s first hit in the MLB was on a bunt single.
This isn’t just a recent trend either. In 2016 Remillard led Coastal Carolina in home runs with 19. However, during the College World Series Final, he laid down a drag bunt for a single. He ended up going 8-for-8 in attempted bunt hits on the year.
Hopefully, he didn’t take his veteran teammate’s comments too personally.
Lance,
Let’s focus on getting that ERA (and waistline) down.
What a disappointment this entire team has been.
Lynn has no room to talk. He should slim down so he can get his fat butt off the mound, and also figure out how to get his ERA back to MLB level. Lynn is a competitor but then so is everyone else. Lynn may simply at the end of the line.