Balk - Throwing to an uncovered first base

[BalkHawk]

This balk, in 8.05, falls under a pitcher faking a throw to first. For an explicit statement, it can only be found in interpretation manuals. You can excuse the pitcher throwing to F3 when he's away from a base as long as he is close enough to legitimately make a play on the runner. How close is close enough is purely the judgement of the umpire.

 

"step and a reach" in my judgement.

[Sayhey]

With the rule change you can no longer throw to the 3rd baseman off the bag. It has already been called a balk in the 2013 M.L.B. season. You can throw to a ss or 2nd baseman well off the bag with no chance of making a play. The reason for that is a pitcher is not required to throw to second when he is in contact. He must throw to 1st base and now this year he must throw to 3rd base. No feints to third anymore. The 1st baseman does not let the pitcher know that he is playing in or back and when the pitcher steps toward 1st base to throw the 1st baseman is not there. The pitcher can throw the ball directly over 1st base if he wants to and avoid a balk but the ball would go wild past 1st base and R-1 may get third. If the pitcher throws to the 1st baseman, and now the third baseman when they are off the bag it is a balk.

The fielder must be able to glove the throw and apply a tag immediately.

I called this and a coach thought I was making rules up. He was astounded that an umpire could make this call. 15 min. after his pitcher was called for this balk I called a balk on the opposing pitcher for stepping and throwing to 1st base but the ball "slipped" out of his hand and slowly rolled toward short right field. This is a balk because the throw lacked aim and momentum for a 1st baseman to glove a throw and apply a tag. The initial coach probably thought I made this one up as well but at least this one went in his favor.

[grayhawk]

With the rule change you can no longer throw to the 3rd baseman off the bag. It has already been called a balk in the 2013 M.L.B. season. You can throw to a ss or 2nd baseman well off the bag with no chance of making a play. The reason for that is a pitcher is not required to throw to second when he is in contact. He must throw to 1st base and now this year he must throw to 3rd base. No feints to third anymore. The 1st baseman does not let the pitcher know that he is playing in or back and when the pitcher steps toward 1st base to throw the 1st baseman is not there. The pitcher can throw the ball directly over 1st base if he wants to and avoid a balk but the ball would go wild past 1st base and R-1 may get third. If the pitcher throws to the 1st baseman, and now the third baseman when they are off the bag it is a balk.

The fielder must be able to glove the throw and apply a tag immediately.

I called this and a coach thought I was making rules up. He was astounded that an umpire could make this call. 15 min. after his pitcher was called for this balk I called a balk on the opposing pitcher for stepping and throwing to 1st base but the ball "slipped" out of his hand and slowly rolled toward short right field. This is a balk because the throw lacked aim and momentum for a 1st baseman to glove a throw and apply a tag. The initial coach probably thought I made this one up as well but at least this one went in his favor.

 

According to Jim Evans, the bolded above is not correct.  In his balk video, he says that the umpire must judge if a play is on, but "the fact that the play isn't close is irrelevant."  We are to simply judge whether or not a play was on, even if the throw isn't to the bag, and the play wasn't close.

[Sayhey]

You misunderstand Jim. The rules state that an in contact pitcher must throw to 1st base. Some grace is allowed. If the 1st baseman is close enough to 1st base that he can glove a throw and apply a tag that is considered close enough to the 1st bag bag.

[grayhawk]

You misunderstand Jim. The rules state that an in contact pitcher must throw to 1st base. Some grace is allowed. If the 1st baseman is close enough to 1st base that he can glove a throw and apply a tag that is considered close enough to the 1st bag bag.

No, I don't misunderstand Jim. In fact, in the video, he shows a throw to F3 well off the bag (not close enough to apply a tag) but with F3 moving towards the bag just prior to the throw (play was on). No balk.

[JaxRolo]

Who is Jim??

I have watched the jim Evans video 2 million times and its always the same outcome. Throw waaayyy off the bag. No Balk!!!

[Sayhey]

Page 142. Jaska/Roder interpretation.

It is a balk if a pitcher steps to first base and throws to first baseman who, because of his distance from the base, is (or would have been) unable to try a tag against the runner at first base.

Can not be much clearer than that explanation

[grayhawk]

Page 142. Jaska/Roder interpretation.

It is a balk if a pitcher steps to first base and throws to first baseman who, because of his distance from the base, is (or would have been) unable to try a tag against the runner at first base.

Can not be much clearer than that explanation

 

Except that it's not consistent with Evans' interpretation.  Remember, I said that "according to Jim Evans" the statement you made was incorrect.  If you choose to follow J/R instead, then more power to you.  I prefer the Evans interpretation since he was an MLB umpire and ran one of the approved pro schools for many years.  I believe him to be more credible on rules interpretations than J/R.

[JaxRolo]

Page 142. Jaska/Roder interpretation.

It is a balk if a pitcher steps to first base and throws to first baseman who, because of his distance from the base, is (or would have been) unable to try a tag against the runner at first base.

Can not be much clearer than that explanation

 

 

So do I follow J/R or Jim Evans???

 

I think I will go with the guy that teaches (or taught) MLB guys!

[Sayhey]

Chris Jaska and Rick Roder were triple A umpires

They were frustrated by the awkwardness of the obr rule book. If you buy their book you will see that many current M.L.B. umpires endorse the work of Jaska/Roder. Jeff Nelson uses it as a textbook to teach in the off season. Joe Brinkman even writes an endorsement in the front of the book and he used to have his own umpire school.

Jim Evans is a fine man and has given a lot to make umpiring a baseball game an art form as well as scientific. One scientific aspect would be angle over distance. I attended Jim's 5 day clinic in Tucson and a 2.5 clinic in Portland. This subject did not come up in short clinics. I only viewed Jim's balk video once and it was years ago. Jim's primary focus is on mechanics. When I attended his 5 day school we did not talk about any rules. Maybe someone who has attended his 5 week school will post and tell us what was taught at the 5 week school. Good umpires can disagree about an interpretation of a poorly written rule. That is why Chris Jaska and Rick Roder wrote an interpretation of the official rule book. M.L.B. umpires also make mistakes. When Don Mattingly visited his pitcher twice with the same batter hitting the crew in L.A. that night screwed the rule up. Mattingly was ejected by rule but the crew forced the relief pitcher to come in immediately. That is incorrect. The pitcher on the hill must pitch to the current batter and then the new pitcher is brought in. The goal here is to figure out the correct ruling and apply it on the field.

[UmpJM]

Jax,

 

You might want to rethink that position. MLB appears to still hold Rick in pretty high regard.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/umpires/camp/index.jsp?content=staff&bio=roder_rick

 

JM

[grayhawk]

Sayhey, J/R is an excellent resource.  However, if J/R's interpretation is in direct conflict with Evans', then I choose to go with Evans.  Since Evans produced what most believe to be the best resource on balks, I think he has particular credibility on the subject of this thread.  If you prefer to adopt J/R's interpretation over Evans, I have no problem with that, but to suggest that I misunderstood Evans when you only watched the video once years ago is ridiculous.

[UmpJM]

I never considered the Evans and Roder interps on this situation to be in conflict.

 

JM

[grayhawk]

I never considered the Evans and Roder interps on this situation to be in conflict.

 

JM

 

What Sayhey posted as J/R's interpretation is in conflict with Evans from his video:

 

J/R: "It is a balk if a pitcher steps to first base and throws to first baseman who, because of his distance from the base, is (or would have been) unable to try a tag against the runner at first base."

 

Evans:  "The fact that the play isn't close is irrelevant."  This was accompanied by a play in the video where F3 was well off the bag when receiving the  throw, and was unable to try a tag against the runner at first base.  Evans said that it was not a balk in the video.

 

Evans states that what is important is that the umpire judges that a play was on.  He does not speak to F3's proximity to the base, nor his ability to make the tag as being the key factors.

[Sayhey]

You are right about that. It is ridiculous for me to say you misunderstand Jim about the balk. I apologize. Please forgive me sir. I want to learn and get the rules correct. I think rules are a small part of being a good umpire. Game management and mechanics are much more important.

We are however, responsible to know the rules and sometimes it takes an interpretation to understand the rule and the purpose of the rule.

I will call it any way as long as I have it correct.

I may be wrong on this or Jaska/Roder may have neglected to put in the all important "exception".

Everything J/R says may be true but they did not add the exception as Jim did.

The reason I said you must misunderstand Jim is I found it hard to believe that Jim would not be in line with J/R. Jim is a hall of fame umpire in my opinion. I have had dinner with him and he has great stories and is a fine man.A Texan all the way. His mom drove him to his first assignments because he was only 14. . I was heartbroken about what happened with his school and I hope he comes back. Does anyone know what the latest news is for Jim? Sorry again if I offended you. We need to stick together and support each other. If Jim said it,that is good enough for me.

[mstaylor]

Judging from the ballk ar third called already, Jim is wrong. Too far away equals a balk, even if moving. 

[UmpJM]

Well, I guess I'll have to look at the Evans balk video again, but, again, I don't think Evans would disagree with the balk called in the MLB game.

 

JM

[grayhawk]

Judging from the ballk ar third called already, Jim is wrong. Too far away equals a balk, even if moving. 

 

I believe Evans would have a balk on this play.  It's clear they were not making a play on R3, even with F5 moving a couple of steps.  He was as surprised  as anyone else on that throw.  Balk!