Balk Off win
 

Two out, runners on 2nd and 3rd. F1 is in the wind up, he steps back onto his free foot, stutter-steps back and forth, then starts to pitch. I called the balk. The D-coach went off. He said it wasn't like the stretch, where you have to have one continuous motion. He has 3 seconds to pause when pitching from the wind up. He then said he's been doing this $h!t his whole life.

Well, I didn't balk him for "pausing" I balked him for taking 2 or three steps with his free foot. Actually he balked on the previous pitch by turning his shoulders to 1B in the set position after bringing his hands together (I'm not sure why b/c there wasn't a runner there). I let that one slide. I really didn't want to have the winning run score on a balk.

That was definitely a new one for me though. I missed the 3 second rule when I read the rules the last time, and the time before that...

Balk in FED. Probably not in OBR.

Well shame on the umpires who have let him do this without calling it.
I'm guessing this is HS ball.

Thanks
David

Although I agree that this might be ignored in MLB, I think it's an illegal pitch or balk under OBR, too. I don't think I'd allow it in amateur ball.

8.01(a): "... He shall not raise either foot from the ground, except that in his actual delivery of the ball to the batter, he may take one step backward, and one step forward with his free foot."

I've seen guys rock without stepping, and that's legal. But as described in the OP, I've got a balk here.

Balk in OBR for feinting to an unoccupied base (I'm assuming the move was such that it would have been called a balk if there had been R1).

I can see it not being a balk. F1 is allowed two "pumps" and *maybe* that's what was happening.

Why would you judge it a feint if there's no one at the base? There's no one to fake out.

He made a move to the base (assumption) and didn't throw the ball -- that's the definition of a feint. Whether there's anyone to "fake out" is immaterial.

Doesnt the pumps, refer to his hands and arms?

Yes. :confused:

He asked that because the OP seems to be about multiple steps before the pitch, and you commented that it wasn't a balk because F1 was just "pumping."

Frankly, I too wondered where you were going with that.

Ah --

A pump includes (or can include) "rocking back and forth" from free foot to pivot foot. If that was the extent of the "stutter steps back and forth" (and I'm not saying it was -- only that I can envision it), then I probably don't have a balk.

Gotcha. I agree. I've even seen it:

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Why assume?

Because it just follows what I had in the previous post -- IF the "shoulder turn" was such that it would be a balk with R1, then it's a balk without R1. I get that from the fact that the OP indicated that he passed on the balk.