Two things: Pitcher in stretch non-pivot foot position, hanging the leg

[biggravy]

Not home yet to get in the books and find references but really I think this is more of a judgment thing. LHP in stretch. Pivot foot on rubber. Front foot is basically toward the 1B dugout. It is all the way outside the edge of the rubber. Not sure if I am explaining this well, but I had never seen a stretch stance this exaggerated before. Unless I'm missing something, the only implications I can come up with is more difficulty in gaining distance and direction with a step move towards 1B.

Different pitcher RHP hanging his leg with R3 to the point that he briefly but definitely completely stops the motion with his leg. Saw it once and it was a just barely came to a stop. Could have been a part of his natural motion as it was the first pitch I had seen him throw from the stretch. That pitch was hit for a double, and in the next at bat w/ R2 only he did not hang his leg to a complete stop like before. R2 became R3 on a PB and the next pitch there was again an obvious lack of continuous motion. I balked him. I can't remember the rule reference but I'm pretty sure I got that one. I definitely felt it was an attempt to deceive the runner.

Long winded I know, but I'm seeing kids getting a lot better at manipulating gray areas from the mound this year. I'm really trying to get in to the finer points of separating a balk from an ugly delivery.

[mbyron]

1. As long as the free foot is in front, I don't care where it is. If he steps toward a base, he must gain distance and direction from where he started.

2. The foot stopping is ok as long as something was moving.

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by mbyron

1. As long as the free foot is in front, I don't care where it is. If he steps toward a base, he must gain distance and direction from where he started.

Right.

The free foot must be in front of a line throught the front of the rubber. It needn't be directly in front of the rubber. It's the pivot foot that must (by rule; often ignored a bit) be directly in front of the rubber.

[jicecone]

Originally Posted by biggravy

I can't remember the rule reference but I'm pretty sure I got that one. I definitely felt it was an attempt to deceive the runner.

Long winded I know, but I'm seeing kids getting a lot better at manipulating gray areas from the mound this year. I'm really trying to get in to the finer points of separating a balk from an ugly delivery.

MB and BJ have already nailed the technicalities.The fact that you can't remember if it is a violation of a rule is probably a good reason NOT to call the balk. At the younger levels most of it is ugly deliveries period and there is a fine line between enforcement and education. That being dependent on the coach and official however, I definitly found myself looking for way too many balks than actually happened until I really had a good understanding of them. Comes with experience.

Keep working and good luck.