Balk question

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by TwoBits

Okay, got more information from one of the two balk situations from the past weekend:

On the other situation, the pitcher was not making a delivery to the plate. He reacted to R2 running towards third by turning his body towards second base, but never stepping directly to second base. Imagine his body turning, but his feet remained in the same position as they were when he was in the set position. Balk was called. Immediately after doing this, the pitcher stepped of the back of the rubber and threw wildly to third base.

Still kill the play?

Yes. The ruling about "balking and throwing the ball wild" (or whatever the specific words are) is meant *only* for those situations where the act of throwing itself is illegal and, thus, a balk.

In this sitiation, you had a balk for feinting without a step FOLLOWED BY a disengagement and a wild throw. It's two separate moves, so the balk is enforced.

Had, for example, F1 merely thrown the ball away without stepping (just turned his shoulders and threw the ball into center field), then the play would be kept live.