Suicide sqeeze gone bad

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by johnnyg08

Could you ever have a balk on this for simulating the pitching motion while not on the rubber or is it always interference?

It's possible -- if the pitcher went through the motions of stepping off (legal) then taking the rocker step sideways, then replanting the pivot foot, then lifting the free leg to the balance point, then striding to the plate ...

By this time, R3 will have already scored.

If the pitcher sees R3 going and steps off, 99% of the time F1 will just make a "normal" throw to home. And, since the purpose of the balk rule is to protect the runners, and the runner is already headed for home, it needs to be very obvious that it's a balk -- all the benefit of the doubt goes to the pitcher, here.

[Brblueump44]

During the original play the pitcher disengaged backwards, then took a crow hop to a couple of feet in front of the pitchers plate and threw the ball home.

It was obvious that the pitcher wasn't trying to simulate a pitch of any sort.