Quote:
Originally Posted by bob jenkins
Not for that reason. Maybe for opening up to home before throwing to first.
I'd like to ask the umpire (or MLB): Why (for what reason) did you call the balk? Is that what was discussed with Ventura? Now that you've seen the replay, do you want the call back?
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When I first saw the video, I thought it was borderline in a couple ways: maybe a move to home, maybe a borderline step balk, maybe throwing to F3 away from the base.
When I saw the discussion with Ventura, the discussion seemed to concern how close F3 had to be to the base to make a play.
It looks as if the Sox set up that play to take advantage of the wording of the MLBUM: F3 is neither "in front of" nor "behind the base," since he's playing off the base but even with it. So it would seem that this provision of MLBUM would not apply, and the play should be legal.
But if that's what's going on, I think it mistakes the UM comment for the rule. 8.05(c) requires that the pitcher step toward a base "before throwing to that base," and for 1B this provision is interpreted quite strictly as requiring
throwing to the base.
The concept of "for the purpose of a play" is part of 8.05(d), not 8.05(c), and is not relevant to this call. F1 threw it to F3 away from the base, so it's a balk.