Balk rule

[GarthB]

I'll pinch hit for Tee:

You will almost NEVER see this move in the pros. Yes, I know, the rule book says the pitcher can do three things from the rubber: Pitch, Step off, Step and throw to a base. Yada yada yada.

The reality of the situation is, though, this move is easily balked on a RHP. To successfully pull this off he can't make a motion that appears to be a move home. Evans covers this very well in his balk video.

The RHP would almost have to "glide" his left foot over towards first in a smooth and continous motion, step and throw. If he lifted his knee towards home or even straight up, many, if not most upper level umpires will call a balk for starting his motion to home and throwing to first.


This is why most ML pitchers step-off or use the jump turn or jab-step.