Francisco Rodriguez bounce or stop?
 

Watching Mets vs Yankees (Diclaimer: I have no loyalties here, I hope they both lose)

K-rod sometimes does not stop, he merely bounces off the belt.

1) Why are they letting him get away with this?

2) Would he get away with it if he were a rookie?

3) Would Bob Devidson have a coronary if he were in this game?

Joe

As far as I watch MLB and its umpiring here is how I understand this.

1) As long as it is what he normally does and is not a change used to deceive someone they normally allow pitcher to get away with it. K-Rod is not the only one to get this "courtesy" I know one of the Mariner relievers does the same thing and doesn't get called, it even gets mentioned once in a while.

2) Early in the season probably not, but after about Mid-May most likely he would as it would be understood by that time it is his normal motion.

3) Unlikely, the balks I see Davidson don't involve not stopping, he calls everything else possible, but unless blatantly horrible I haven't seen him call a borderline "no stop".

Jasper

Jasper,

Your understanding is incorrect.

Whether or not it is the pitcher's "normal motion" has nothing to do with whether or not a balk is properly called.

JM

MLB pitchers just don't get called for not stopping. I don't know why not. They just don't.

JJ

I agree that "normal motion" isn't the written rule. There is some degree of "understanding" at the MLB level on what will / won't be called.

I have long maintained that trying to apply MLB balk standards to the level of ball most of us call (including up to fairly high-level college) is futile.

+1

Last I heard, PBUC instruction was to enforce "discernible stop," meaning more than changing directions. MLB seems to allow changing directions to count.

One more reason not to take our cues from MLB. :)

What about my understanding is incorrect?

No body ever mentioned "properly called" the discussion is what was likely to be called and in MLB for what ever reason correctly or incorrectly "no stop" balk are rarely if ever called, epically if that is part of a pitchers "normal motion".

Now for properly called you would be correct, but again that is not the question at hand.

Jasper

MLB umpires never consider whether a move is part of a pitcher's "normal motion," a term that does not appear in Rule 8. So that has no impact whatever on how likely a move is to be ruled a balk.

Is this tongue in cheek?

I think that "normal motion" clearly plays an enormous part in the way they call balks. No one said that "normal motion" is in the book.

What I was interested in with K-Rod is that he does it sometimes and not always. This is far worse than letting him get away with it if he did it every time. It gives him a huge advantage.

Joe

Not tongue in cheek, but based on pro instruction. I can't tell you what's in their heads, but I can tell you how they were taught to apply the balk rule.

If I had to speculate about why the "bounce" isn't balked, I would guess that the MLB umpire supervisors have told the staff to call it that way. Remember, those supervisors are some of the oldest umpires alive, and that's how it was called back in the day.

It's not called that way in MiLB.

As for K-Rod, his delivery is so quick, Ricky Henderson would think twice about stealing on him, even on that loopy deuce. I don't see any advantage gained.

Normal Motion and Natural Delivery are simply BS!

If the pitcher's "normal motion" or "natural delivery" is a balk move, then it's a balk!

I love when I hear "But Blue, that's his natural delivery!"

Normal
 

It is not the first time. Pitchers became so use to taking a jab step toward 1b during the wind up that the rules were relaxed to permit it and then changed to allow it.

Many MLB pitchers pause two or three times before settling into the set position. It looks like their glove is "climbing down" a ladder. The pitching coaches certainly allow it. The teams allow it and the umpires now allow it. It won't be long until the rulebook will allow it.

Pitchers are walking a fine line within the rule. KRod has done it for several years now. But I do believe a balk was called against him last year. A balk, one. Can someone check? KRod motion isn't new. He did it last year. He's not alone, as other closers do it too. There are tmes when the final pause is more pronounced than the previous ones. He also tends to come set over his right hip.

Watch MR in New York sometime.

Reply...Then he needs to change his nature.

And as the best pitchers in the world you would expect them to be held to the rules more stringently that H.S. players.

MTD, Sr.

Balks get enforced in MLB like travelling gets enforced in NBA.

I don't think that's necessarily true.

Huh? Not even close. Rondo just got away with one the other night that would be the equivalent of not balking a feint to first. Sorry, this comparison is not anywhere near to apt.

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.

Well if its that obvious then I wonder why we have some very good umpires who have debated this for days on this site.

And the pitcher in question has been making this same move all season long and suddenly now its a balk?

Hmm. I agree that its not that hard, but in MLB its not always cut and dry.

At least that is my observation. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of course.

Thanks
David

If you actually think what Mariano Rivera does is a balk, then you are to umpiring what Barney Fife is to law enforcement....:(

See "Ozzie's at it again" thread.

The fact that he has been making the same balk move all season long is completely irrelevant. I get that excuse from managers and players all the time and I don't buy it.

Now THAT is funny!:D