Ozzy,
Was this you local rules interpreter or our state interpreter?
Rule 6-1-2 clearly says "After he starts his movement to pitch, he must continue the motion without interuption or alteration." If he is committed to pitch then he must have started his pitching motion. You either start your motion and are committed to pitch or you haven't, which means you can step off. But if you have committed to pitch, you can't pause. How does the rules interpreter rationalize that?
The gorilla arm interpretation is just flat out wrong. The rule interpretation is on the website. It reads
"SITUATION 5: While in the set position, F1 has his pitching hand down in front of his body, swinging slowly as he gets the sign from the catcher. RULING: The use of this gorilla stance in the set position is illegal. A pitcher, for the set position, shall have his pitching hand down at his side or behind his back. (6-1-3)"
I don't get it? I tought these guys are supposed to know the rules?
Quote:
Originally posted by ozzy6900
Well, I spoke to our rules interperter in front of the membership about two things: The windup and the gorilla arm. The following is the results of that discussion (text in italics are the answers our rules interperter).
FED RULES
The Windup
Pitcher steps onto the rubber in the windup position with his hands at his sides. He then joins them in front of him and pauses.
The pitcher is now committed to the pitch. This is not a balk as long as the pitcher pitches. If he does anything else, that would be a balk.
The Gorilla Arm
Pitcher in the stretch swinging his pitching arm like a gorilla.
What rule is the pitcher breaking here? As long as the pitcher is hanging his arm at full extention and the ball is in the glove, there is no reason to consider this to be a balkable offense. If, however, he has the ball in his glove and the glove is tucked a his chest and the free arm is bent toward the chest close to the glove, that would be a deception to the runner. There is nothing that I can see that would cause me to call a balk on a pitcher with a "gorilla arm".
The membership was in full agreement and that is how we will be handling these two situations in Southern Connecticut.
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