Judgment Questions:

[jkumpire]

Two fairly interesting questions have been brought to my attention recently, I thought I might pass them on for comments:

A. FED question. F1 is in set position, but his pivot foot is not entirely in front of the rubber. Picture it as about a 40* angle, with part in front of the plate, part on top of the rubber. Balk it? Related, Q, can a pitcher stand on top of the rubber (no) in set position, or can he wedge his foot against the front of of the rubber at an angle to the rubber?

My first thought is nope, on all three, since FED 6-1-3 say all of pivot foot "in contact with or directly in front of the pitcher's plate." But the reading here is not quite exact enough in others' opinion.

B. NCAA/OBR: R2, outs don't matter. F1 breaks hands to come home. After hands are broken BR asks for time, but does not step out or make a physical gesture for time. Umpire says "too late". F1 stops, real late in delivery. PU balks F1, saying that BU did nothing to force F1 to stop his motion. F1's pitching coach disagrees. F1 lucky he still has an arm to throw with.

Obviously, the first thought of most guys is to call time and start over. But under what circumstances, if any, does speaking by BR not become a balk?

[CoachJM]

jkumpire,

A. I think the only one I'd have an issue with is the 3rd description - where part of the pitcher's pivot foot is against the front of the rubber and the rest is "angled away" to the front side. It would have to be pretty extreme and I would likely "correct it" rather than balk it.

It is perfectly legal for the pitcher to have his entire pivot foot "on top" of the rubber - and a really bad idea from a "pitching effectiveness" point of view.

B. ...But under what circumstances, if any, does speaking by BR not become a balk?

When it causes the pitcher to abort his delivery or otherwise balk, or when the pitcher completes his delivery despite the batter's action.

JM

[Dragon29]

B. NCAA/OBR: R2, outs don't matter. F1 breaks hands to come home. After hands are broken BR asks for time, but does not step out or make a physical gesture for time. Umpire says "too late". F1 stops, real late in delivery. PU balks F1, saying that BU did nothing to force F1 to stop his motion. F1's pitching coach disagrees. F1 lucky he still has an arm to throw with.

Obviously, the first thought of most guys is to call time and start over. But under what circumstances, if any, does speaking by BR not become a balk?

I don't do FED, so I won't even try & answer your 1st question.

On 'B' - It's judgment call all the way (so you can't be wrong!)
Do you feel F1 stopped because of what B1 or PU did? If so, it's nothing - a do-over. If you don't, it's a balk.

Personally, the only response I'll give a batter who requests Time too late is a very quiet, "No." I keep it quiet specifically because I don't want F1 to hear and react. I've had a few instances where the batter requested Time and moved out of the box while F1 was starting his delivery - F1 pitches - Strike! Batter says, "But, I called 'Time'"; I say, "You requested, but were not granted, Time." They don't make the same mistake again.

[heyblue26]

I don't do FED, so I won't even try & answer your 1st question.

On 'B' - It's judgment call all the way (so you can't be wrong!)
Do you feel F1 stopped because of what B1 or PU did? If so, it's nothing - a do-over. If you don't, it's a balk.

Personally, the only response I'll give a batter who requests Time too late is a very quiet, "No." I keep it quiet specifically because I don't want F1 to hear and react. I've had a few instances where the batter requested Time and moved out of the box while F1 was starting his delivery - F1 pitches - Strike! Batter says, "But, I called 'Time'"; I say, "You requested, but were not granted, Time." They don't make the same mistake again.

I have had a batter while the pitcher is in the set position ready to pitch asking for time, time continuiosly (sp) when he came up to bat. The first time I granted it to him. Then every time he came to bat he would do the same thing while in the batters box and i would not even reply to him and the reason was he was trying to get the pitcher to balk with runners on base. He just says it but doesn't put his hand up indicating that he wants time.