Balk in the runner from third?

Umpires should make the rule call whenever they see it regardless of where runners are or whether it affects the outcome of the game or not.  Their job is to enforce the rules in any circumstance.  It is not their job to determine when to enforce the rules and when not to enforce them.

Balk that all day, every day. Balks aren't only to allow a chance to steal, they are to allow the runners the ability to get secondary leads and to break for balls put in play. What happens if the pitcher doesn't stop, R3 doesn't get the opportunity to get a full secondary lead, and he's thrown out by a hair at the plate? The defense just got an advantage that is illegal.

If it's a balk it's a balk. The situation shouldn't matter. The ump didn't commit the balk the player did. They have control over weather or not they balk. The ump is supposed to enforce the rules not make then up. 

I've never subscribed to the theory that umpires should refrain from making certain calls--obstruction, interference, balk--near the end of close, important games. Seems to me that's a good time to make sure no one gets an unfair advantage.

Im guessing the Op was on the "wrong side" of this call.  He is seeing it as influencing a close game where the opposing team would see not calling the balk as bad umping, show favoritism to the other team, etc.

Thanks for the input guys.

Our role is not that much different from your favorite radio announcer.  We see what happens, and then we tell people about it.

Your questions would be better phrased as "shouldn't a pitcher be extra sure to remember to stop with a runner on third when the consequences are so much greater?"

I had no dog in the fight Joe.  I am a HS umpire and my buddy was telling me about his game from the previous day where he balked a pitcher with a runner on third,.  I have always struggled with calling balks with runners on third unless the balk was obvious,  It was great to get some imput from fellow umpires on this issue.   

My apologies.  I will say Im not an ump, unless you consider the LL games I did when my kid was younger and the ump was a no show.  

I understand the whole you don't want to influence a close game theory but imo, if its an infraction its an infraction.  

BTW, I maybe a little sensitive to this whole not pausing topic this week.  My kids HS team played a game in which the pitcher never paused.  Went on the entire game.  He was quick pitching without pausing.  Never gave our batters a chance to setup in the box and never gave our runners a chance to get off the bases.  Ump didn't do anything about it.  Only 1 ump on the field and he was one of those guys who sat back in the box and never moved his butt out of it.  For some reason this game really irritated me.  We won without an issue but I was a little frustrated after the game.  Funny thing is after two kids and being around youth baseball for 12 years things don't usually get to me.  I really hate the 1 umpire thing.  You really need 2 on the big field.

No apology necessary Joe.  Yes, I consider anyone that had the guts to put on a mask and get behind the dish an umpire,  Good for you for stepping up when necessary.

Yes I agree, two umpire are "almost" always better than one.  But it doesn't take a two man system to correct the things that you experienced the other day.  In my HS association every Frosh and JV game are one man games.  Only Varsity has the benefit of two umpires.

Interesting turn in the discussion related to quick pitching.  I actually love it when my 2017 starts working quickly and the opposing batters cooperate (i.e. jump back in the box ready to go).  What I don't like is when our team cooperates with an opposing pitcher.  Not talking about "not pausing", but wanted to get an ump's take what strategies are legal and allowed when a team wants to simply slow down a pitcher.  I've always hated when a batter repeated requests time when stepping into box when pitcher is not rushing (right handed batter with right hand requesting "time" from plate umpire).  That said, if opposing pitcher was just a little too quick, I'd be having the entire team use this strategy at least until things slowed down a bit.

I hear you on this.  We've had some great umps on a one man crew.  I love when I see them hustling from behind the plate to get into the proper position to make the correct call.  We have soph teams here in IL and the larger schools actually have an A and B team.  Its hit or miss on a 2 man vs. 1 man crew.  Tend to see the 2 man crews more on the weekends when we have double headers.  

I have no problem with the pitcher working quick.  The pitcher I referred to was going into his wind-up after as the batter was moving his front leg into the box before the ump even started play again.  Never came to a set either.  One continuous motion.  

joes87 and others - assuming the pitcher is pitching legally, just really quickly, what strategies do you recommend that are legal and effective in slowing things down?  In the situation outlined, why wasn't the opposing coach a) complaining and b) having his players keep their back foot out of the box until their front foot is set.  If pitcher begins wind-up before back leg is in the box, then tell batter to NOT accomodate the pitcher (keep back foot out of box) and have a no-pitch called.

In our case the coach was complaining the ump did not want to do anything about it.  It probably had to do with the fact that it was 42 degrees outside with a nasty wind.  

Im think, but if there is an IHSA ump on here they should be able to confirm, that we have a speed up rule under our HS rules and the batter must keep the backfoot in the box when getting signs from the coach.  Again I maybe wrong on this but this seems to be the norm in our area.  This is where the problem came in.  The ump would have his hand up.  As soon as the kid started to move the front foot back into the box the kid would start his movement to the set position.  While he was doing this the batter was still getting set and the ump was taking his hand down.  The ball was being delivered almost at the same time as the ump settling in for the pitch.  Its probably a HTBT type of thing to completely understand what was happening.  The pitcher was using one complete motion without coming to a set position with a pause.  

Our coach did complain but the ump did not want to hear it.  There were lots of requests for timeout as soon as the kids were set in the box.  In many instances the pitch was still thrown as the ump could not get the timeout called quick enough to stop the pitch.

Was the pitcher in a wind up or in the set position with a runner on base?  If he is in the windup, there is no need to come set.  I'm sure if the umpire felt the pitcher was quick-pitching the batter illegally, he would have called it, especially if the other team was complaining.

Sorry.  Used the term windup when I should have said moving into his pitching motion.  There were runners on base a good portion of the game.  As I said we spanked this team so it wasnt a big deal.

In regards should an ump call a balk to score a run.  I tell my guys if they don't pause then they are the ones opening up the door for the umpire to make this call.  They are the ones who are doing this not the ump.  It's about personal responsibility.  If I agree with the ump my guy balked I'm going to to still go out there but I'm probably going to tell him it was a good call or something to that effect.

In regards to the quick pitch - there was a guy in our region who was notorious for quick pitching and that was what made him successful.  For some reason nobody would call him on it.  We had to play them in the first round of playoffs.  We hadn't seen him all year but other coaches told me about him.  So I talked to the plate ump and told him he wasn't going to quick pitch us - either they would call it or we were going to take legal measures to stop it.  I knew the guy really well so he knew I wasn't being disrespectful.

We went the first inning and he was pretty quick to pitch but it was very borderline of legal / illegal.  Guy didn't call it and I can understand why not but it was going to give him an advantage.  Next thing you know is I'm giving signs every pitch that take longer than normal, my guys are walking up to the plate slower, lot of shoes got tied and retied, time got called more often but not to the point it was ridiculous and several other things.  I didn't want to turn the game into a travesty and we talked about it the day before at practice.  My guys were awesome and it started to frustrate this guy and we ended up beating them.  I don't felt that either team turned the game into a travesty because the casual fan probably wouldn't have caught on to what either team was doing - just people who really know baseball.  Hard to explain