Legal, Balk or just don't do that call

obrady500+ posts

I was at a game recently when the opposing pitcher performed a certian movement everytime he can set:

Right before he brought his hands together to the set position, he would lift his back foot.(think of lifting your back foot to start your coming set motion) It varied from a very noticable lift of a couple of inches, to more of a weight shift and a resetting of the foot.

I though that if this would have been a key game I'd been letting the umps know and to watch it. At the very least he was breaking contact every time he came set.

What I see is that every time he lifted his back foot, the runners would begin shifting their weight to go back to the bag.

3/9/072:36 PM

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T-Rex10+ posts

I've seen a pitcher (as a spectator) at the HS level who would hop with his back foot as he came to the plate each time. It was a very odd thing to see.

The only thing I could figure is that because he did it on every single pitch, that this was just his natural delivery, and therefore does not justify the balk call.

3/9/075:45 PM

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pilsner500+ posts

obrady,

When you said the back foot was being lifted I'm assuming you meant the pivot foot. By rule, from the set position, the pitcher can only lift his pivot foot to either turn to throw to a base or step back off of the rubber.

If the pitcher was lifting his pivot foot and then putting it back down in the same place either during the stretch or after becoming set, I'd call a balk because the move is clearly deceptive to the runner(s).

3/10/076:34 AM

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boyinr10+ posts

Illegal pitch with bases empty. Balk with runners on. Just because the pitcher does it every time does not mean it is a natural move associated with the piching movement.

3/10/079:23 AM

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T-Rex10+ posts

Because the hands are not yet together, I've got this as no balk as I do not see intent to deceive the runner.

Also, just because this isn't a big game does not play into whether I would call it or not. I am going to call the same for every game so that I am not caught in a situation where rules are changed because of what is on the line for one particular game.

3/10/079:01 PM