Balk or not? FED

[rbmartin]

Rule 6 Section 1 ART. 3 . . . For the set position, ..... He shall go to the set position without interruption and in one continuous motion. He shall come to a complete and discernible stop (a change of direction is not considered an acceptable stop) with the ball in both hands in front of the body and his glove at or below his chin. Natural preliminary motions such as only one stretch may be made. During these preliminary motions and during the set position until a delivery motion occurs, the pitcher may turn on his pivot foot or lift it in a jump turn to step with the non-pivot foot toward a base while throwing or feinting as outlined in 6-2-4 and 2-28-5, or he may lift his pivot foot in a step backward off the pitcher's plate which must be in or partially within the 24-inch length of the pitcher's plate....


Situation: Runner on 1st. Left handed pitcher. Pitcher brings his hands together and slowly starts his preliminary motion that would normally precede coming to a pause. As he is doing this (not even close to a pause) he steps toward 1st and throws.

Legal or not?

[bob jenkins]

Legal. In FED and all codes. No pause / stop needed when throwing to a base.

[jicecone]

"During these preliminary motions and during the set position until a delivery motion occurs, the pitcher may turn on his pivot foot or lift it in a jump turn to step with the non-pivot foot toward a base while throwing or feinting as outlined in 6-2-4 and 2-28-5, or he may lift his pivot foot in a step backward off the pitcher's plate which must be in or partially within the 24-inch length of the pitcher's plate"

In your thread, the pitcher did exactly what the rule allows him to do, so why would you say it is NOT legal.

[rbmartin]

Originally Posted by jicecone

...so why would you say it is NOT legal.

I didn't say it was not legal. I was expecting people more experienced than myself to support or verify the way I interpreted it : that it was a legal move.

[jicecone]

Originally Posted by rbmartin

I didn't say it was not legal. I was expecting people more experienced than myself to support or verify the way I interpreted it : that it was a legal move.

Got it. My bad

[rbmartin]

Just as a little background, I was doing a game last Saturday and a play happened as I described in the original post. I heard the usual mumbling and chirping "that's a balk" from the offensive dugout / fanbase which I ignored.

Between innings one of the coaches (he was very calm and cordial) inquired about the move. I said it was legal. Later in the game, he then got his rule book and pointed out the phrase " He shall go to the set position without interruption and in one continuous motion. He shall come to a complete and discernible stop..."

I told him to keep reading until he gets to the part that says "During these preliminary motions...the pitcher may turn on his pivot foot or lift it in a jump turn to step with the non-pivot foot toward a base while throwing .."

He seemed satisfied with my answer but I just wanted to be sure I was interpreting the rule as a whole correctly.

Thanks.