During my son's 18u game yesterday, a balk was not called because the umpire said it was caused by the batter.
Pitcher took a long time to deliver after coming set. Simultaneously, as the Pitcher begins to deliver the pitch, the batter moves his front and begins to ask for time. Pitcher stops his motion and field ump calls balk.
Plate ump yells " no balk, we had time." The following conversation takes place between coach and ump:
Coach: Who called time?
Ump: your player.
Coach: did you grant it?
Ump: no I did not, but the batter cannot cause the pitcher to balk.
Coach: but you did not grant time, so if that pitch is a strike, you would have called it correct?
Ump: yes.
Coach: pitcher stopped his motion mid stream, that's a balk blue.
Ump: a batter cannot cause the pitcher to balk. That violates the integrity of the game and gives the offense an unfair advantage.
Coach: but a runner can cause a pitcher to balk, why is it different for the batter?
Ump: coach, I called a no balk, end of discussion. Go back to your dugout.
That whole conversation happened in front of me and both were calm, but I have never seen that before. There is a local HS team that actually uses that tactic late in games with runner on third. I have never seen the umpire reverse a balk because it was caused by the batter, whether intentional or not. Was that a correct application?
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