Balking Bob

[jdmara]

Originally Posted by rbmartin

you must step off of the rubber before breaking your hands. If he broke his hands first, it's a balk.

Having said that, bob davidson tends to detect balks where no other mortal can detect them. I think he can actually sense when a pitcher is thinking about balking and call it preemptively.

1+

[umpjim]

Originally Posted by jdmara

1+

His hands weren't together yet. According to the announcers he started his stretch and then stepped off. The video shows his pitching arm starting forward slightly to come set and then he stepped off.
I thought you could step off during your stretch. It may be that the arm stopped for a millisecond before he stepped off so that became the "started and stopped."

[Rich]

Originally Posted by umpjim

His hands weren't together yet. According to the announcers he started his stretch and then stepped off. The video shows his pitching arm starting forward slightly to come set and then he stepped off.
I thought you could step off during your stretch. It may be that the arm stopped for a millisecond before he stepped off so that became the "started and stopped."

Any video?

[umpjim]

Originally Posted by Rich

Any video?

I have the MLB subscription. Can't capture it for you. TX - Brewers 8/14, bottom 3, Leonys Martin at bat.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by umpjim

I have the MLB subscription. Can't capture it for you. TX - Brewers 8/14, bottom 3, Leonys Martin at bat.

I do too. I'll look it up.

[Steven Tyler]

From what I saw, it looked like he was starting a stretch to come set, broke his hands, and stepped off the rubber sort of slowly.

I only saw one short replay, but didn't see anything that looked like a balk. I was curious if he did something prior to the balk call, and just stopped his motion when it was called.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by Steven Tyler

From what I saw, it looked like he was starting a stretch to come set, broke his hands, and stepped off the rubber sort of slowly.

I only saw one short replay, but didn't see anything that looked like a balk.

8.05(a)?

[umpjim]

Originally Posted by Steven Tyler

From what I saw, it looked like he was starting a stretch to come set, broke his hands, and stepped off the rubber sort of slowly.

I only saw one short replay, but didn't see anything that looked like a balk. I was curious if he did something prior to the balk call, and just stopped his motion when it was called.

He had not come set yet. His hands were at his sides. The pitching arm might have had a slight twitch toward coming set as or just before he stepped off. He also starts open and his torso comes closed when he sets. Davidson either had the arm twitch and/or the very slight torso rotation as the start and stop before he started to step off. Only Bob would see that.