Was this a Balk ? I called it a Balk.

[phillips.alex]

you were incorrect, but it does not matter as the runner acquired the base legally. It is only illegal to throw to an unoccupied base if it is not an attempt to put out a runner. You can throw to a base the runner is going towards or leaving from without balking.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by phillips.alex

you were incorrect, but it does not matter as the runner acquired the base legally. It is only illegal to throw to an unoccupied base if it is not an attempt to put out a runner. You can throw to a base the runner is going towards or leaving from without balking.

The mistake here is to think that 2B is unoccupied. Just because the runner has taken off for 3B, his last legally acquired base is 2B. Thus, 2B IS occupied, and it is legal to throw there. The exception to the rule about throwing to an unoccupied base does not enter this case.

So the balk call was incorrect. However, once you made it, the ball was dead (FED rules, right?), and that runner could NOT have scored on the play. You would have awarded him 3B, and that would be a dead-ball award (no further advance possible, despite the dumb throw into CF).

Maybe I'm misinterpreting your remark about "scoring": maybe you mean that the advance to 3B would be scored as a balk rather than a stolen base...

Don't they teach pitchers to run at a trapped runner anymore?

[nickrego]

Originally Posted by mbyron

Maybe I'm misinterpreting your remark about "scoring": maybe you mean that the advance to 3B would be scored as a balk rather than a stolen base...

Yes.

Charging the Pitcher with a Balk, instead of the Runner with a Stolen Base.

Fortunately, due to F8 playing his position properly, there is no way the Runner would have scored, if I hadn't called the balk.