Basic Balk Question

[sunfudblu]

Did the (LH) pitcher's right foot go behind the back edge of the rubber when he brought his knee up?? If so, balk.

Did he have distance and direction?? IOW, if he just lifted his right foot and brought it down in basically the same spot then he didn't have any distance towards first base. Balk.

Did he step directly towards first base?? Imagine yourself walking up the first base line exactly half way between first and home. Now draw am imaginary line from that spot directly to the side of the rubber that is closest to first base. This is not easy to see if you are the PU but did the (LH) pitcher's foot step on the first base side of that line? If not then he didn't have direction and that would be a balk.

There are other things that may have factored into the reason the ump called a balk but these are things that a LH pitcher can easily violate.

The LH (and RH) pitcher need not remove his foot from the rubber when throwing to 1B but he MUST throw if his foot remains on the rubber when throwing to 1B.