The Sacrifice Fly
As a hitter, getting a base hit or hitting a home run isn’t the only way to produce in baseball. With the sacrifice fly, which is a situation for the hitter with runners on second base or third base and even first base depending on the base runners speed with less than two outs, is an opportunity for the hitter to drive in runs without getting on base and is considered the most productive out in baseball. This is the type of play that will get you a high five from your teammates and manager even though you were on the way back to the dugout. Of course, a base hit still trumps a sacrifice fly in any situation in baseball and is what any hitter is trying to achieve but the option of the sacrifice fly gives the hitter the a bit of ease at the plate to avoid overthinking about what the pitcher is going to throw them next. Because of the sacrifice fly, the hitter can do their best to swing for the fences while at the least hitting it to the outfield from mid to the deep part of the outfield so the runners can advance a base as well as to home plate to score a run. The key result you want to avoid during a sacrifice fly opportunity is a strikeout, especially when there is only one out in an inning because that then takes away the option of the sacrifice fly and adds a little more pressure on the rest of the lineup to get a base hit in a two out situation to produce a run in what could be a close game. To hit a sacrifice fly, a hitter must be prepared to seek fastball throughout the at bat. That is the pitch besides a hanging curveball that would best produce power for a hitter to sky the baseball to the outfield. What is different about the sacrifice fly rather than an rbi groundout is that a rbi groundout actually counts as an at bat for the hitter whereas a sacrifice fly does not count as an at bat on a hitters stat sheet. It all depends on the intent of the hitter in the situation to determine what counts as an at bat and what doesn’t and a sacrifice fly usually seems like the hitter isn’t trying to put the ball in play but instead trying crush the baseball with the intent to move the runner up a base or to score them.
