Pitching question

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

Sorry if I'm appearing to be closed-minded on this one. It's just that the motion you've described seems pretty clearly illegal. You stated there was a noticable pause. That's what the pitcher is not allowed to do, once she's started.

Rule cite?

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

To Dakota - the answer to your second assumption is not yes. You're talking about a person moving in 3 dimensions. There is no pause during a backswing. To put it in scientific terms - the backswing might momentarily have zero forward velocity (although not zero velocity in every direction) but it never has zero forward acceleration... while the motion described in the OP has both zero velocity and zero acceleration... a noticable pause, or a stop in the delivery.

Your response is, well, veering off. The issue is velocity (rearward or forward), not side-to-side, and certainly not acceleration. As you say, it will have zero forward velocity... i.e. it will be stopped as far as the motion being legislated in the rule is concerned. If you are going to go that far, there will always be SOME motion anytime the ball is being held, unless it is being held by a bronze statue.

A backswing is allowed, therefore rearward velocity is allowed. There must, therefore, be a transition from rearward to forward, during which transition, the rear/forward velocity reaches zero... i.e., it stops.