Balk call last night

[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