JC Romero-Balk-o-matic

[jwwashburn]

Phillies crafty leftie

Video coming as soon as I can find it.

He brings the glove down to his waist jerks it up a bit, puts his left foot in, he puts his left foot out.....he does the hokey pokey and he balks himself about...

My 11 year old son saw him and said, wow, that is a balk!

[jwwashburn]

Hard to see here but his glove is moving around before he pitches.

Balk on a pickoff Watch the jerk of his glove before his move.

[asdf]

Originally Posted by jwwashburn

Hard to see here but his glove is moving around before he pitches.

Balk on a pickoff Watch the jerk of his glove before his move.

Must not have been that obvious, as nobody said a word.

[jwwashburn]

The problem with some of these pitchers is they get to balk because they balk a lot.

The standard operating procedure for some umpires in the big leagues is to let some pitchers balk.

This guy balks like crazy.

[briancurtin]

Not sure what the big deal is.

[jwwashburn]

The pitcher is deceiving the runner when he jerks his glove around like that and sometimes pitches and sometimes makes a pickoff attempt.

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by jwwashburn

The pitcher is deceiving the runner when he jerks his glove around like that and sometimes pitches and sometimes makes a pickoff attempt.

Deceiving the runner is perfrectly legal if you don't violate 8.05 while doing it.

[rookieblue]

Color me confused; is that the best you can find? The first video doesn't even let you see if he did anything inappropriate. Probably because he didn't.

[jwwashburn]

I know these are not the best clips...I am searching for others. I think the balk on the pickoff is pretty obvious, though.

If anyone watched the Phillies/Braves tonight, chime in...it was glaringly obvious.

[johnnyg08]

There is legal deception and illegal deception.

[jwwashburn]

Originally Posted by Rich Ives

Deceiving the runner is perfrectly legal if you don't violate 8.05 while doing it.

Right, of course. Like I said, his glove jerks deceive the runner...and his glove jerks are balks.

[johnnyg08]

On another note...sorry to hijack...just a little bit.

Does anybody have a clip of the Braves/Phillies last night (Monday) Prado bobbled a ball that was thrown to him for a force out at 2B and the runner was correctly called safe by the 2BU...I wanted to send this to our umpires to show how good his timing was in order to get that call correct. Please PM me if you find it.

[Rich]

I am a Phillies fan, so I see Romero pitch a lot.

He does the same thing before every pitch or pickoff. In MLB this is never going to be called a balk and to nobody involved is it a balk.

[asdf]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

In MLB this is never going to be called a balk and to nobody involved is it a balk.

Which is further supported by the fact nobody wearing a Dodger uniform said a word.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by jwwashburn

Right, of course. Like I said, his glove jerks deceive the runner...and his glove jerks are balks.

Which provision of 8.05 prohibits "glove jerks"? As Rich correctly points out, deception as such is not illegal. Only certain deceptive acts are illegal, and then only because they are specifically prohibited by rule. So which rule prohibits "glove jerks"?

In the link you post, he comes set, and then his glove moves. Without pausing again he turns, steps, and throws to 2B. Perfectly legal at all levels.

Even the announcers knew this was not a balk.