Balk call last night

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

The NFHS Casebook Play cited above goes on to say that the Batter shall be charge with a Dead Ball strike for (b).

MTD, Sr.

Mark, I pointed that out in the first line of my post.

[thumpferee]

You could have avoided the whole thing by just granting time! I have learned that not calling time just complicates matters.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by thumpferee

You could have avoided the whole thing by just granting time! I have learned that not calling time just complicates matters.

Yes you can grant a request while the Pitcher is in the Set position, but sometimes a situation does not allow for it because the Defense may be starting a defensive play and to grant the Batter's request for a Timeout would negate the Defensive Team's play and none of us want to give one team an advantage it is not entitled to have.

If the Pitcher has started his Pitching Motion then the PU should never grant a Batter's request for a Timeout.

MTD, Sr.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by thumpferee

You could have avoided the whole thing by just granting time! I have learned that not calling time just complicates matters.

As in many things, benefit of the doubt to the defense. I will not grant time if the pitcher has started his motion.

[thumpferee]

Originally Posted by mbyron

As in many things, benefit of the doubt to the defense. I will not grant time if the pitcher has started his motion.

And where did I say I would?

I was speaking about the OP, and the OP stated the pitcher came set, not started his motion.

Also, I error on the side of safety. IMO I would rather kill a play than allow a play to continue with possible distractions. Ex: The pitcher comes set. The batter asks for “time” but I say “no, stay in the box”. As the pitcher begins his delivery the batter steps out of the box. The pitcher holds up and does not throw the ball. I call “balk”.

All that confusionAnd you call a balk? Instead of just killing it?

Also, what if the kids contact came out, or a bug flew in his eye. Better to kill it while the pitcher is still set than to have him fire a fastball and hit the temporarily blind batter in the face or stop in the middle of a pitch and pull something because the batter stepped out from being stung in the eye from a bee

[umpjim]

Originally Posted by thumpferee

And where did I say I would?

I was speaking about the OP, and the OP stated the pitcher came set, not started his motion.

Also, I error on the side of safety. IMO I would rather kill a play than allow a play to continue with possible distractions. Ex: The pitcher comes set. The batter asks for “time” but I say “no, stay in the box”. As the pitcher begins his delivery the batter steps out of the box. The pitcher holds up and does not throw the ball. I call “balk”.

All that confusionAnd you call a balk? Instead of just killing it?

Also, what if the kids contact came out, or a bug flew in his eye. Better to kill it while the pitcher is still set than to have him fire a fastball and hit the temporarily blind batter in the face or stop in the middle of a pitch and pull something because the batter stepped out from being stung in the eye from a bee

How are you calling a balk on this after reading the cites in this thread?

[thumpferee]

Originally Posted by umpjim

How are you calling a balk on this after reading the cites in this thread?

The (ex) was from the OP. What have you been reading? We all know a balk is the wrong call here, we have been talking about killing it from the start when the batter requested time.

[umpjim]

Originally Posted by thumpferee

The (ex) was from the OP. What have you been reading? We all know a balk is the wrong call here, we have been talking about killing it from the start when the batter requested time.

Sorry, I was confused. But, regarding the dirty balk, when a team is trying to score R3 with the "time step out" trick (because it's worked before either in your area or some tournament where they got away with it) you should give the pitcher a chance to throw the strike.