Willie "Mays" Hayes wasn't just a fictional movie character, but a stereotype. Too many players with a ton of speed prefer to hit the ball in the air rather than utilize their speed to its fullest advantage. Not all of those players had the "runs like Mays, but hits like shit" problem, but some of them did. The passage of time and my faulty memory prevent me from naming names.
I hope Straw doesn't fall into that category, but a quote from this week concerns me.
Someone asked postgame why he doesn't bunt more. His response was something like "People have always been telling me I should work on bunting more. I don't know why but I just haven't worked on it much."
I hope I'm wrong, but that immediately got me to wondering about how coachable he is. Anyone who sees his speed automatically assumes he should take advantage of it by bunting to get on base. I would imagine that every manager from little league, high school, college, and each level of the minors saw that potential....and yet Straw says he hasn't worked much on bunting.
Yes, I know bunting isn't as prevalent as it used to be and isn't worked on as much. And yes, I know I am probably reading way too much into one postgame quote.