From the windup:
Umpires shouldn't pick boogers about minor movements coming prepared
as the pitcher engages the rubber. That's booger pickin'. You've got to give him a chance to establish his position.
Once established on the rubber, anytime he moves his free (nonpivot) foot before being legally disengaged, he must pitch.
He may legally disengage before pitching by stepping backward off the rubber with his pivot foot. That may be done:
- while both hands are at his side
- while both hands are set, in front of his body
- while either arm only is moving upward to set in front of his body, but he must move the arms separately and set each arm separately.
Anytime he moves two arms simultaneously, he must pitch.
***NOTE: Anytime he legally disengages and I see movement of both arms simultaneously in any simulated pitching motion, I will balk him. Some attempt to move the pivot foot back, and then raise both arms as if they are pitching in hopes the runner will think they are starting their windup. They think it's legal since they are off the rubber, but they don't know it's illegal due to simulating motion associated with the pitch while off the rubber. It is illegal and highly deceptive.
Now, that's the technically proper way he is allowed to move.
However, I've never seen anyone penalize a pitcher for moving both arms at the same time when no runners are on base. No different than I've never seen them penalized for not finishing a delivery or for dropping a ball while on the rubber if there are no runners on base. There is truly no advantage gain.
With runners on base, I seldom see pitchers throw from the windup when runners could steal any base without requiring the furthest runner to steal home.
Even with runners on 3B, I've seen pitchers move both arms simultaneously and reset in front of their bodies. I've never seen a situation where R3 made a legitimate steal attempt during that movement, and thus have never seen it balked. In fact, I can truthfully say I've never had an offensive coach complain when it's occurred and F1 has not been balked.
However, if that ever occurred and the runner broke and the pitcher did not deliver to the plate, I'd balk him. If an offensive coach ever complained about not balking it, I'd be certain F2 got the word to him to stop it. Never had to do that either----yet.
I'm not alone. As I said, I've seen it often yet never seen a balk called for this.
So, if you're a coach..........
Do you want to chance that the umpire will properly balk the pitcher when he's supposed to? Risky move unless you know your umpire and have confidence in him.
In reality, maybe it's called in your neck of the woods, but I've not seen it called in mine. The Fed might consider reviewing what is and what is not being called in regards to their technical interpretations and establish something that correlates more with what actually occurs on the field.
Just my opinion,
Freix