My son was just named to a summer all star team which has a coach my son has never played for. They had their first practice yesterday and this coach was showing these kids some "tricky" pick-off moves he wants to use in their games. Some of them took me back to Little League, I call them BS moves. Just trickery and well, BS, IMO. I laughed out loud (and the coach noticed), as he showed the kids this one move. Runner on second, pitcher toes the rubber with both feet as if he's going to pitch from a wind up (Why? I have no idea!). The catcher holds his bare hand inside his mitt until the SS breaks for second and then separates his hands thereby giving the pitcher the signal to wheel and fire to second. The pitcher never steps back off the rubber, just goes from two feet on the rubber facing the batter, to spinning and firing to second. I heard my son say "Coach, that's a balk, isn't it?" and the coach said no, as long as the pitcher indeed throws the ball to second. I chuckled and shook my head as I walked back to spend the rest of the practice in my air conditioned car. That's a no brainer isn't it? I'm sure it's a balk. Someone tell me if I'm wrong. These kids are 17 years old and probably know more about the game than this coach. It's embarassing.
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