[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by DDonnelly19

I don't see the purpose of giving warnings on balks. It causes too much inconsistency on how the game is called.

Say the pitcher fails to come set. Balk, first offense, he gets off with a warning. Good, now little Johnny knows that he must come set before pitching. Later, little Johnny feints to 1B. Balk, already had a warning, so we move the runners up. If we use the "warning" as a vehicle to teach the pitchers, how is Johnny supposed to figure out that a feint to 1B is the same penalty as failing to come set? At this point, the "warning" really becomes a "get out of jail free" card.

I guess this issue can be debated until the cows come home , however, the Balk warnings at least from my experience concern those "technical" Type Balks and not the "mechanical" ones. It's up to the coaches to teach the kids the proper pitching mechanics. In addition it wouldn't be a bad idea to have an umpire present at one of the practice sessions.

The warnings I'm talking about are when LJ steps off the rubber illegally. Also, a common trait among new F1's coming up from LL is to constantly "play" with the baseball if you will by constantly moving the ball in and out of their gloves in the set position.

You are correct in that the "mechanical" Balks need to be called ie; F1 feints a throw to first or stops suddenly in his pitching motion to the plate, however, leeway is given on the turning of the shoulder toward first, and the Technical Balks. No-one likes a Balk-a-thon

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