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Originally Posted by SAump
A ball or a balk, any word about runners staying in place or awarded one base?
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Sorry to dig up an old thread, but we had quite a discussion in our clinic tonight about the rule change to 6.2.1.e, which now states "For infraction (e), a ball shall be called each time a pitcher violates this rule."
Previously (i.e. in 2006), 6.2.1.e was treated the same as 6.2.1.(a-d), which allowed for an immediate dead ball, and umpire discretion on ejection. Now, you are to award a ball for each infraction. Where it is unclear, and the point of our debate, is should a ball be awarded if it is a balk situation (i.e. if there is a runner on base, do you award both a balk as well as a ball on the batter). I was staunchly on the side of doing awarding both a base to the runner(s) and a ball to the batter, but in the publication "2007 High School Baseball Rules by Topic", on page 52, there is a comment section, part of which states "When a balk is called, it never includes the awarding of a ball in addition to an advance by the runner(s)."
Based on this, I believe now that you do
NOT both award a base to the runner(s)
AND a ball to the batter, but only the award to the runner(s). However, as is often the case with Fed, the rulebook doesn't specifically make this distinction, and the emphasis on "a ball shall be called each time" makes it confusing. I suppose I was reading too much into it, and the fact it would be a balk with runners on would supercede this, and you would not penalize the defense twice. Thoughts?