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Originally Posted by rei
This to me appears to be a move with the pivot foot first. Indeed, if he is doing a jump turn, that is a different story, because both feet are supposedly leaving the ground at the same time. In what was described, the pivot foot is stepping towards third base. This is deceptive. His NON-PIVOT foot must step directly towards a base, not his pivot foot.
I don't see where the confusion is. It is a freaking balk the way it is described.
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IMO, this is the only quasi-valid argument that the jab step is a balk in FED, and I don't buy it. The disengaging stuff is irrelevant, because F1 is not disengaged in either move.
In both the jump and jab step moves, the free foot moves toward 1st, and the pivot foot moves toward 3rd. The only arguable difference is, in the jump step, both feet are moved simultaneously, while in the jab step, the pivot foot leads by a fraction of a second. I can't see how the jab step is deceptive if the jump step is not. They are the same, save for (maybe) a fraction of a second difference in timing. FED does not say that the jump step entails simultaneous movement of the feet, nor does it say that the free foot must lead, only that F1 step towards 1st with the non-pivot foot while throwing there. What if F1 lifted both feet in a jump turn, but landed on his pivot foot a fraction of a second before stepping towards 1st with his free foot. Is that a balk? I don't think so.
The choices:
A. The rules don't specifically allow it, so it's a balk.
B. The rules don't specifically prohibit it, so it's not a balk.
I'll choose B.