Balks from the preliminary set position
 

What is the status of a pitcher in the preliminary set position, meaning with the pivot foot in contact with the rubber, hand on his side, looking at the catcher, but before bringing his hands together and holding the ball in both hands in front of his body and coming to a complete stop?

Sitch 1: R3, pitcher in preliminary set position. R3 takes off for home on steal attempt. Pitcher looks up and, without first stepping off backward, raises the ball above his head and takes a few steps toward home plate, then tosses ball to catcher who applies the tag for an apparent put-out. Balk? Must pitcher first step off the rubber backwards? Is raising the ball above his head and taking a step towards home a motion naturally associated with his pitch? Might we have catcher's interference?

Sitch 2: R1, pitcher in preliminary set position. Pitcher moves his pivot foot forward (towards home) off the rubber, then feints to first. Balk?

Sitch 3: R1, pitcher in preliminary set position. As pitcher begins to bring his hands together, he stops and puts them down at his sides again. What call? What if no runner?

Paul L.,

Sitch 1 - Balk! If the pitcher is not going to deliver a legal pitch, he must first disengage the rubber by stepping off behind the rubber with his pivot foot.

Sitch 2 - Balk!

Sitch 3 - Balk if there are runners, nothing if not.

JM

It is a balk in all three situations.

Sit 1: balk for not coming set prior to delivering a pitch from the rubber.
Sit 2: balk for not legally disengaging the rubber for a feign towards first. The pitcher must step back off of the rubber. This move can be considered a jab step move, hard to say visuallizing your sitch. With a jab step, the pitcher is considered on the rubber and a feint towards first is a balk.
Sit 3: balk for starting his motion then stopping. Moving from the stretch to the set must be one smooth continous motion.

I agree: balk in all 3 situations.

Remember, from either the set or the windup, F1 may do 1 of only 3 things:
1. pitch
2. disengage properly ("step off")
3. step and throw/feint toward a base (FED: can't do this from windup)
Your situations represent a few of the many things that do not fall under these three types of permissible activity.

BTW: try to limit yourself to just a few words when explaining a balk. So we might have:
Sit. 1: "Never disengaged." or, if it looked more like a pitch than a pickoff, "never came set."
Sit. 2: "Never disengaged."
Sit. 3: "Started and stopped."

Good tidbit about limiting your response to a few words. It's something the veterans do out of instinct but the rookies don't ever think about.

Excuse me for my ignorance on this but is it legal in NCAA to step and throw towards a base from the windup?

-Josh

Yes.

Josh,

Like OBR, NCAA rules permit a pitcher to throw a pick-off from the windup.

JM

Thanks gentleman! Out of all the leagues I've umpired (obviously I've never done a true college game) I've never operated under NCAA rules, always OBR and FED (and of course the modified rules).

-Josh

Situation 3 is a balk and I would say the same thing. "Started .. or Not Continuous..." . You shouldn't get any grief from the coach. They all know it is a balk. But, after I called a balk this summer on something similar I perused the rule book that night for some rules refreshment to go along with the one I was drinking. I found that there is no penalty for not continuously coming set in OBR 8.01b. So what was I balking? Feinting without a step in OBR 8.05. Edited to add: If you're calling FED the same requirement is specifically penalized as a balk in 6.1.3.

If it's not continuous, then there's a stop. "He started and stopped, skip." Balk.

That's fine. But Umpire Jim is saying that it doesn't specifically say in OBR that that is a balk.

8.01 says that it must not be done but doesn't give a penalty and it's not specifically listed as a balk offense in 8.05.

Rita

It is a balk in OBR if you judge it as a feint without a step (nevermind 1B) under 8.05 which is usually the case at the levels I call. If you watch some MLB setup men and closers you will see some guys not co-co-co-tin-tin-usaully come set and they are not balked. It is not judged a feint because they always do it and the runners are not driven back. Like I said, if you tell a coach "started and stopped or not continuous.. * you won't catch any grief at my levels. Just be aware of what you are really balking. And of course in FED it is a rulebook balk. I don't know about NCAA etal.