Yet another balk question

[harmbu]

I hope my description is easy to understand:

While working from the windup a pitcher stands on the rubber facing the plate with his hands apart. Without moving his feet, the pitcher brings his hands together in front of him. After a few seconds he steps back, completes his windup and pitces.

My question is once he puts his hands together can he step off if a runner breaks for the next base? Or would moving his hands be considered the start of his windup?

Please give the Fed ruling for this play.

Thanks in advance.

[Carl Childress]

Originally posted by harmbu
I hope my description is easy to understand:

While working from the windup a pitcher stands on the rubber facing the plate with his hands apart. Without moving his feet, the pitcher brings his hands together in front of him. After a few seconds he steps back, completes his windup and pitces.

My question is once he puts his hands together can he step off if a runner breaks for the next base? Or would moving his hands be considered the start of his windup?

Please give the Fed ruling for this play.

Thanks in advance.

A pitcher may step off the rubber until he makes any motion habitually connected with a pitch. (6-1-2; 6-1-3; 6-2-4d)

Added note: Movement of the hands does not necessarily mean F1 has started to pitch.

Your pitcher is on the rubber and brings his hands together. If he moves them simultaneously, that's defined as the time of the pitch. Should he pause, he has balked.

But if he has one hand at his side and the other at his chest, he may bring both hands together and pause. (2-28-3)

[Edited by Carl Childress on Aug 29th, 2005 at 03:44 PM]

[mattmets]

Why is he pitching from the wind-up with a runner on?

[BigUmp56]

Originally posted by mattmets
Why is he pitching from the wind-up with a runner on?

More than likely the bases were loaded, or no advance base was open.


Tim.

[DownTownTonyBrown]

Originally posted by mattmets
Why is he pitching from the wind-up with a runner on?

He did say it was federation/high school... so anything is possible.

In NFHS, the pitcher cannot make a pick-off move from the wind-up (6-1-2 middle of the paragraph). He may step back with his pivot foot first and then throw to a base. Usually by then all of his partners are yelling for him to step off and he has usually clobbered it up enough that I have yelled "That's a balk!"

In OBR the pitcher, from the wind-up, can step directly toward a base and make a pick-off move (8.01(a2)).