Can a pitcher do this?
 

OBR / 12u travel team

Sitch one: R3 / RHP
Pitcher is in the windup, both feet on the rubber, hands together, looking in at the catcher.

Without taking either foot off the rubber, he noticeably shifts his weight from pivot foot to free foot back to pivot foot. Balk?

Sitch 2: R1 / LHP
Pitcher comes set. He steps off with the proper foot before seperating his hands, but as he is stepping off, and before his foot is actually on the ground he is throwing to 1st. Kind of falling backwards as he is throwing. Legal?

Sitch 1 : I do not see an issue. Feet did not move.

Sitch 2 : I have a balk. It would seem that is purposely deceptive move. I do not have my rule book with me, but I thought he could not separate his hands unless his pivot foot touched the ground. If it was so obviously NOT on the ground, call the balk.

Said it before, will say it again... when dealing with funky movements that might be balks, you must be able to state with certainty exactly which rule is being broken. A lot of odd movements or weird deliveries are completely legal. Don't let yourself get caught in the "it looks deceptive so it's a balk" or "I've never seen that before, must be a balk" way of thinking - that is more often wrong than right.

And that's why I posted here... looked strange but I wasn't sure. Didn't call a balk in either case. (Though the of offense sure wanted one on sitch one)

Sitch 2:

By rule you described a balk with the step off thing and pivot foot off the ground but, I never seen it called. U12, you might want to explain this move as illegal. It would probably benefit a brother in blue down the road if he calls it.

Sitch 1:

As long he doesn't stop his motion, he's good to go.

I think in Sitch 1 the OP means he started to rock onto his free foot, then rocked back onto his pivot foot and stopped there. Would that change your answer?

STL_UMP, can you clarify Sitch 1 here?

Sitch 1: Again, I need clarification as to if he made a motion normally associated with his pitch. Did he continue with his windup? Does he do the same thing every time? If you think he was starting his pitching motion and then stopped, that's a balk in the windup position.

Sitch 2: I have never seen this called a balk. The pitcher is required to separate his hands after stepping off the back of the rubber. That just means he can't keep his hands together and pretend he is still set. That is the purpose for requiring the separation. Many lefty's snap throws over while their pivot foot isn't yet on the ground, but it's such a fine line that it isn't a good idea to be "that guy" that calls it.

Yes, but the word stop wasn't mentioned in the OP. Hence my answer of no balk. I just try to calls 'em as I reads 'em.

For sitch one pretty much as I described. Just shifted his weight from pivot to free back to pivot. No big overt movement but you could see that he was moving a bit. This was the only time he did it.

3rd base coach was really barking "he's moving, he's moving"

I just ignored him.

I would say then, without seeing it first-hand, that unless you felt he was starting his windup and then stopped, no balk. If he was faking like he was starting his windup in order to trick the runner, then I would say balk.

Next time tell the 3rd base coach that you are perfectly capable of seeing the situation without his input.