FED rules both situations

Situation 1:

Runner on 1B. F1 in the set position with non-pivot foot slightly toward 1B. F1 takes the sign and quickly turns & throws to 1B in a pickoff attempt. He twists his non-pivot foot toward 1B without any step toward 1B and brings his pivot foot forward in front of the plate & slightly to the 3B side. Do you call a balk?

Situation 2:

Runner on 3B. F1 in the Windup. Takes the sign, begins his delivery by going into the set position, stops (complete & discernible) and then delivers the pitch. Do you call a balk?

Yes, I would call this a balk. The pitcher has to step directly toward the base with the free foot and gain distance and direction before he makes the throw. 6-2-4(b)
Definetly a balk as you describe what happened. The pitcher may not go from the windup position to the set without first disengaging the rubber with his pivot foot. 6-1-2

Tim.

BigUmp56 thanks for confirming my calls:

Believe it or not I called total of 7 balks on the same F1 for those two situations. It set a personal record for balk calls in one game and balk calls on one F1 for me. It was a JV tourney game, maybe I should have expected it. There were a few other times that I could have called a balk but the kid wore me out, I just stopped calling them. His team was being destroyed anyway, no run rule, and the coach wouldn't pull him......ugly game!

The baseball gods must have been angry with me!

And, apparently, there wasn't much learning (or teaching) going on with respect to that pitcher. Did he ever inquire, or, did you ever explain WHY any of those balks were balks?

My guess is that you did.

And yet, he continued committing the same infraction, over and over again?

I once heard that the definition of insanity is that you keep doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.

David Emerling
Memphis, TN

1. HTBT, sounds as if he could have used a perfectly legal jump step. I.e. both feet in the air, the pivot foot landing in a different spot, as well as the free foot landing in a different spot somewhere closer to 1b.
If he simply spun his feet with out leaving the ground, balk.

2. Always a balk.

1) If the free foot doesnt' gain distance or direction towards first base, then it's a balk.

2) Balk- explicitly stated in the rulebook.



Good calls, justme!