[greymule]

The only time I buy "not gaining an advantage" is in rec games where a girl has a motion that is technically illegal but that isn't affecting the pitches she is lobbing in. She's bringing her hands together twice or rocking back or something, and you tell her about it but she has a hard time correcting it.

You can call it every time and ruin the game, or you can tell the coaches about it so they can work with her.

But in a more serious game, you have to call it.

I have done a great deal of FP and watched a lot of high-level pitchers both from behind the plate and from the much better perspective in the field. I watched two of New Jersey's best high school pitchers a couple of nights ago. They all deliver from well in front of the rubber. And no one could argue that the pivot foot isn't at least providing stability and serving as an anchor.

I agree with Dakota about ASA having to come up with a better definition. The book specifies "the act of a pitcher who steps, hops, or drags off the front of the pitcher's plate, replants the foot, establishing a second impetus (or starting point), pushes off from the newly established starting point, and completes the delivery." Nothing about an actual hop or having the foot airborne, though that does make it more obvious.

Fed says simply: "A replant of the pivot foot prior to delivering the pitch."

Watch them carefully. They all do it.