Francisco Rodriguez bounce or stop?

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by David B

But it does make one wonder what is actually considered a balk in MLB. I mean you watch them everyday on ESPN and its hard just about everytime to actually see what was the balk.

Sure there are some that are obvious, but not many.

My son and I debated the balk Joe West called the other night and even though I tried to explain it, my son said "he stepped to first". Of course we don't have the angle that the Umpire had which is the best angle, but still ...

Thanks
David

I disagree with both your general claim and your specific claim.

Virtually every balk I see in MLB is obvious to me. Usually it's a flinch after coming set, or more properly, starting and stopping. Sometimes it's hard to see given one camera angle, but another one will show the balk.

I believe that both balk calls against Buehrle the other day were called because he made a move to home and then stepped and threw to 1B. One was quite obvious: though his foot moved to 1B, his entire upper body was moving toward the plate. That's a balk.

IMO, the only reason people have trouble understanding balks is that they don't bother to learn the rules. I'm including the announcers. It just ain't that difficult.