Steal from first to second on first movement.

That's a balk. The real umps will fill in the particulars, but he hasn't disengaged the rubber and he's thrown to an unoccupied base. All he can do in that case is try to make a good pitch, and/or hope the hitter fouls it off.

EH, thats was my feeling also, it happened yesterday in my son's game and no balk was called. The second baseman actually was unable to make a play and threw the ball to the short who was covering the bag. It was a bad throw to the bag and the runner was safe anyway so the non call was not an issue I am just curious as to what the correct call should have been.

1. A pitcher may throw to an unoccupied base to (OBR) make a play, or (FED) make a play or drive back a runner.

2. There are three things a pitcher, either RHP or LHP can do from the rubber: Pitch, step and throw to a base, disengage.

3. It all depends on what is meant by "begins his leg left." Since both RH and LH pitchers may step at throw to a base, their foot must be allowed to come off the ground to some degree, but at the same time a leg left that simulates the beginning of a delivery commits the pitcher to home.

Those few RH pitchers who do not either disengage or use a jump turn, use what many of us call a "glide step" in which the left foot comes off the ground just enough for the foot to glide smoothly and in one continuous motion towards first.

So this may or may not have been a balk, but if it was, it had nothing to do with throwing to an unoccupied base if the runner from first was truly on his way there.

While it may be a balk for other reasons, the pitcher does not have to disengage the rubber and may throw to an unoccupied base for the purpose of making a play on R1 who is stealing. If he begins to lift his leg and is able to pivot and throw to the second baseman as in the OP, he has done nothing illegal and no balk should be called.

If the OP is correctly explained, then it is certainly a balk but not for the reason he thought. It said he lifted to pitch and changed his mind and stepped to first. So far so good. However, he threw to the F4, that's a balk. If he steps to first, he has to throw to first. If he had spun one direction or the other so he landed on the backside of the rubber then he could have thrown to second. It is not a balk for throwing ahead of the runner, it is a balk for stepping to first and not throwing there.

In this case the pitcher lifted his leg to start his motion home then rotated his body without disengaging the pitching rubber as far as he could and threw to the second baseman who was not close enough to second base or the base path to make a play. The pitcher's lift leg landed somewhere pointing between first and second base. So he just pivoted on his leg that was engaged with the rubber and did not disengage it until after the throw. As mentioned the second baseman was to far away to make a play and had to throw the ball to the shortstop covering the bag in order to attempt to make a play. Hope that clarifies it some.

CenPAPete, why are you hung up on his failure to disengage the rubber? Under no rule is he required to disengage before making a throw to second base. And it is not a balk to throw to the second baseman in his normal playing position.

mrumpiresir, I am not hung up on anything, just looking to give as much information as possible to get the best knowledge based response from those that know more than I about the situation. In the subsequent post after I posted the OP there where some questions so I tried to answer them. Is there a problem with that?

1. If a pitcher throws to a base (occupied or not), he must first step toward that base.

2. The requirement that the fielder receiving the throw must be close enough to the runner to make a play exists only at 1st base.

Dash, Great thanks for the info.

quote:

Originally posted by CenPAPete:
mrumpiresir, I am not hung up on anything, just looking to give as much information as possible to get the best knowledge based response from those that know more than I about the situation. In the subsequent post after I posted the OP there where some questions so I tried to answer them. Is there a problem with that?

I could not help infer that you think there is a problem with a pitcher not disengaging prior to his throw to second and throwing to F4 who is away from the bag because this was mentioned more than once.

I certainly do not have a problem with you trying to learn about the appropriate rule and this forum is an excellent resource for you to do that. I am learning new things all the time by visiting these sites. Your question has been answered by some very knowledgeable umpires.