grayhawk

BTW, the one I am talking about is the one in the replies, not in the first post of that thread. The one in the first post is a clean move. The one in the replies where F1 drops his stride leg down before stepping to 2B is the NCAA balk.

I asked an MLB umpire and he said it's a misdemeanor and not a felony, so he probably wouldn't call it. But he would mirror/support a partner if it was called.

I honestly don't know. It seems like this kind of move happens unpenalized in MLB. This is a HS kid and I asked him if he's been balked for it and he said not yet. I'm not current on NFHS rules, so not sure what is correct there.

Here is what Randy Bruns said: That's a balk. Pitcher must "raise the lead leg and immediately, with a continuous motion, step directly toward second base." That was not a continuous motion.

I seem to recall Randy sending out something about inside moves and that if the stride leg lowers before gaining distance/direction to 2B that it's a balk. Thoughts? https://x.com/DanielGuerra_88/status/2071403102352077141?s=20

In the NCAA play, the crew ruled that F1 disengaged. I trust Van Rapp's judgment on this over our grainy, distant video.

Illegal in NCAA too. You can windup with your pivot foot parallel (with runners on base, you must notify the umpires), but you can't come set and then windup.

Catchers HATE this

But you didn't

Because...HE DECEIVED THE RUNNER!!

I would think this person doesn't follow CCA mechanics, which would be applicable in NCAA as well as HS (as I understand it).

It was a pitch clock violation. A ball was added to the count. I think the issue is the two stutter steps AND the lob over. Definitely not a legitimate attempt to retire the runner.

https://youtu.be/HDIQ7C8d57c Not sure how to embed.

Jacksonville St vs UVA. R1/R2. Pitcher does an inside move, takes two stutter steps and lobs it to F4. Clock violation called by U3 and UVA's head coach is ejected. Pollard EJ.mov

The mechanics are: (1) Point and call the interference (2) Wait to determine the fair/foul status of the ball (3) Call time, reinforce the interference call, call R1 out and then either send the batter back or award him 1B. Same for all codes.

What I have seen with putting inexperienced umpires at U1 is that they tend to go out on nearly everything because they just don't feel comfortable NOT moving on every batted ball. So you just end up running the 2 umpire system all game which kind of defeats the point.

This fallacy that an ejection shouldn't happen unless the player shows up the umpire or looks at him just needs to go away. Players and coaches use this chickenSH*# tactic all the time. They say something completely ejection worthy while staring ahead or walking away to bait the umpire. Sorry, if you say "F you" or something personal, it doesn't matter where you're looking or if you're walking away. You. Are. Done.

And 5-15a(2) in NCAA. Same penalty except the player will have also have a 1 game suspension.

Agree that you put him on the plate (as long as he's a good ball/strike guy). MUCH less for him to ponder about rotations and just a few differences between 2 man and 3 man.

It's okay to delay a couple of seconds to gather ALL of the information necessary to get the call right. Ball hit straight down, tons of spin on it, batter making no attempt to run. It's the last part, the batter not running that should seal it. Once you've made your decision... COME UP HUGE! No sense in being timid about it. Hands up, "TIME TIME TIME!!!" Keep saying it and move into the infield with urgency. Imagine the difference between that and what U3 did in this game. My guess is that he just doesn't have the experience to be confident in this situation. Reps reps reps.

I don't know but just wanted to say Umpire Auditor sucks. That account literally makes money with the sole purpose to criticize umpires. Screw 'em.

I would add that's it a good idea to reinforce the IFF after it's touched or settles fair with, "Batter's out, he's still out!" If the runners go after that, then it's doubly on them.

The difference being that one can cause the other to commit a violation. How can the pitcher cause the batter to get a warning/violation by holding the ball until .01?

I don't watch a ton of MLB, but of the games I've watched, I don't see batters doing what I'm seeing.

I've seen this comparison and it doesn't compute. Yes, the pitcher needs to be sure the batter has eyes up. It's the BS tactics that we're seeing that had never been used before. If you haven't seen it then it's hard for you to imagine. Batters that get in the box, stare at their feet for 3 seconds, SLOWLY raise their head, stare straight ahead and then SLOWLY turn their head towards the pitcher, all while hoping to induce a penalty. Then you have the ones that look up and then look down again, which is dangerous. The comparison of these tactics versus a pitcher taking the clock to 1 second just isn't the same.