NLCS blown base award

[zm1283]

Originally Posted by RPatrino

If Cain hadn't thrown to first, would you have balked him? I would. Why?

His 'disengagement' and throw to first were in one continuous motion. This makes it a 'jump turn'. There was no distinct stop and drop of the hands, which to me would be a complete disengagement of the rubber. At this point, if he stopped, disengaged and then overthrew first, would be a 2 base award.

Where does the rule say you have to stop and drop your hands to legally disengage? His first move was to move his pivot foot behind the rubber, thus disengaging.

Originally Posted by maven

Pitchers use a lot of different moves. Again: these moves are defined by what they are not. If F1 does not legally disengage, then whatever the move is must conform to the rules governing throwing/feinting to a base.

The reason the move in the video is not legal disengagement is that disengagement requires that the step be complete PRIOR to separating the hands or making any other move/step toward a base.

So Cain had to conform to the throw/feint rules, which he did (no balk). And that's why the award for the overthrow was correct.

Q.E.D.

I still would not balk a pitcher in this situation if he doesn't throw. It would be a very nitpicky balk, and a balk that very few umpires at higher levels would call.

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

I think a lot of people mess this up by trying to give the move a name. "Jab step", "Jump Turn". Better to look at the rules and determine if he broke one. Since he did not legally disengage, he must throw. He did. No balk. If the pitcher did exactly what we see on this video but did not throw to first, you'd have a balk.

He did legally disengage, so it can't be a jump turn. It was closer to a jab step, but he still put his pivot foot behind the rubber to disengage.