Quote:
Originally posted by CoachJM
BFair & Macaroo,
I only noticed the pitcher doing this with runners at 2B, 3B, or both. It seemed to me that he was doing it intentionally to "freeze" the runners. I say this because I don't believe he did this with only an R1 (couldn't swear to it). In that situation he employed a fairly quick "slide step" delivery to the plate.
One of the first things I said to the umpire after requesting time was that it looked to me like the pitcher was coming to a complete stop during his delivery. I'm pretty sure that he agreed he was (as did his coach), he just didn't think it was a balk.
I did end up just "dropping it". The pitcher never made a pick-off throw to 3B or 2B, so it really wasn't a big deal. It just seemed to me that he was not being properly taught and the umpires did not recognize what seemed to me to be an obvious balk.
JM
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I'd guess that you'd have a protestable situation if the umpire agreed (in writing) that the pitcher was stopping his motion midstream and you followed appropriate protest procedures.
While you say it wasn't a big deal relative to pickoff moves, the pitcher's motion could still have a limiting effect on distance gained on secondary leads. A step lost at the beginning of the play may be the determining distance on safe/out at the end of the play.
IMO, you handled it well by not blowing it out of proportion on the field. Still, bringing it to league's attention later as an instrument toward umpire training would not be out of line----AGAIN, assuming the umpires agreed the motion stopped.
Just my opinion,
Freix