Over the years I have heard many different answers to this question. I'm hoping the great minds here can help me reach a consensus.
When a RH pitcher is in contact and turns his body to look at first, would you balk him (under LL Jrs/OBR)?
I've been told:
A. Only if he is set
B. Yes, it's a fake to first
C. Only if it's a quick turn of the shoulders
Then there is also this at the end of 8.05: "Umpires should bear in mind that the purpose of the balk rule is to prevent the pitcher from deliberately deceiving the base runner. If there is doubt in the umpire’s mind, the “intent†of the pitcher should govern."
This makes it sound like it's only a balk if the pitcher turns his shoulders to fake the runner back to first, but it's fine if he just turns them slowly to look at the runner?
Did Angel Hernandez balk the Dodgers for this the other night? Or was it the twitch after the shoulder turn? http://mlb.mlb.com/v...ent_id=13825659
Then on this one it looks like he was allowed to turn his shoulders and then was balked for the move to first when he twitched his front leg first and set it back down before stepping to first with it? http://mlb.mlb.com/v...tent_id=9307143
I know that there are a lot of balks called at the MLB level that we let go, such as the little twitches, etc.