|
8.01(a) The Windup Position. The pitcher shall stand facing the batter, his entire pivot foot on, or in front of and touching and not off the end of the pitcher's plate, and the other foot free. From this position any natural movement associated with his delivery of the ball to the batter commits him to the pitch without interruption or alteration.
(d) If the pitcher makes an illegal pitch with the bases unoccupied, it shall be called a ball unless the batter reaches first base on a hit, an error, a base on balls, a hit batter or otherwise.
OBR as posted by MLB.com.
These are the rules Joe used. He deemed the alteration an illegal pitch, even though it isn't mentioned in the balk rule under illegal pitches. I can't tell you if Joe was correct in his penalty, because I don't own all of the interpretation manuals, but according to Mr. Reed's post, J/R seems to back him.
|