Safety? Not really
I had a bunt situation my rookie season, with a LL runner on third base where the bat rolled back into the batters box. At the time, I would sometimes bend down to remove the bat from the 3B line in front of home plate for safety reasons. Now I recognize this as a very bad habit.
The LL catcher was moving out with the ball along the foul line in this situation and I thought it was no big deal. When I looked up, the catcher had already thrown the ball to first to retire the speedster. Needless to say, ball/strike, fair/foul, safe/out; one of those was MY responsibility. Half the fans were applauding the catcher and the other half were screaming FOUL at me.
How many times have I seen a LL runner injure himself while sliding over a bat or base? None. How many times do I ever want to miss that call again? ZERO. How many times have I had to make a split decision on a fair/foul sac bunt in the batters box where I need to line myself with the baseline? Many. From that moment on I decided to keep my eyes on the BALL. Leave the bat alone and/or kick the bat forward towards the pitcher's mound while I move into a position for a possible play at the plate.
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