Question about not calling a balk

Without commenting on the specific motion, the book doesn't always say what it means or mean what it says.  It's quite likely that something was moving -- iow, if the pitcher had continued after what you call the first increment, it's likely that it would have been a balk.

 

Now, there was a pitcher in MLB who was just called for a double set balk (for the Nats, a few days ago), so maybe the interp of all this is changing.

When officiating any sport, officials have to use discretion to promote a safe and fair competition in a context of good sportsmanship.

When I officiated football, I could have thrown a flag on nearly every play, especially in sub varsity games. To avoid disrupting the game with a yellow blizzard, I considered technical violations in light of safety, fairness of competition, and sportsmanship. If an illegal act didn't offend these standards, there was a good chance I would let it go.

From time to time, a coach would notice an opposing lineman make some small movement that might draw an NFL flag and yell, "He moved, Ref!  He moved!  You gotta call that!" 

My response was often to say, "If you want me to flag that movement, teach your players to react to it."  If a player did react to a micro-flinch, I would throw the flag. But if not, I might assume it hadn't affected the play and keep the flag in my pocket.

I employ a similar mindset when considering balk calls, especially in rec league games. If an obviously inexperienced pitcher is struggling just to direct a pitch within two compass points of home plate and is giving no thought to controlling (let alone deceiving) the runners, I won't make his nightmare mound experience even more horrific by balking him up. In rec games with time limits I am even more inclined to let details pass because I think it's more important to facilitate getting in a full game and giving the players their parents' money's worth.

The other night I could have balked a pitcher in a 14u game for the double clutch as the velocity of his glove was often asymptotically close to zero at the first clutch point. However, the runners, fans, and opposing coaches were oblivious to what was happening. As far as I could tell, only two people, both of us umpires, saw and cared about the potential balk.

I handled it by waiting until the half inning ended and casually moseying over to intercept the pitcher near his dugout in proximity to his coach. I explained the rule, said he had to keep something moving, and advised him his motion would get called in JV games when he gets to high school. Player and coach received the word in the spirit it was intended. The next inning, the pitcher used the crack-baby glove twitch to get past the first stop, and the game continued its course.

It's probable the umpires in the game described by the OP made a similar reasonable and informed exercise of discretion.

Does this explanation help?

Thanks for the detailed explanations on why you would or would not call the infraction based on different situations. That is what I was looking for, why something that is obviously against the stated rule (I do not have access to the interp manuals, just the rule book) would not be called in a certain situation.  I could understand the non-call or the decision to speak to the pitcher in between innings if this was a novice pitcher.  The game in question however was for an 18U team at the Perfect Game WWBA at Lakepointe (great facility by the way, well staffed too).  So no confusion about how he should be going from the stretch to the set position.  I will see if I have some video on it maybe that will help to visualize what he was doing.  This did not cause us any issues, no one got picked off or anything and we were beat 7-0, just interested in why it was allowed.  Seems that it puts the runner at a disadvantage, which I expect is the entire reason for doing it.  Thanks again for the info.

 If I'm picturing what you are talking about correctly, I've seen a lot of that over the past couple of years and it is usually explained away by what has been introduced as a new term in pitching lexicon: "adjustment." personally, I think it's technically a balk, but, even at the mlb level, it now seems quite common.

JMHO, but in these big showcase things, the umpires will typically just let the game play out. It is a showcase, so get as many innings in as possible, get as many at bats as possible. Start calling balks on plays like this and you get an argument, delay, etc. Just keeps the game from moving along.

Trust me, the coaches & scouts watching know what they're seeing. They also want to see more players & pitchers play and not see coaches arguing with umpires.

 

Wait till college ball when things really slooooowwwwww dooooowwwwwnnnnn and every play will be over coached.