Engage/Disengage? Base Award

[johnnyg08]

R2, R3.  Pitcher forgets that R1 stole 2b the previous pitch.  

 

He comes set, then all in one motion he steps back and feints to 1B where there's nobody. 

 

Legal, Illegal?

 

Same situation, except throws it out of play.  Place the runners.  

[Replacematt]

R2, R3.  Pitcher forgets that R1 stole 2b the previous pitch.  

 

He comes set, then all in one motion he steps back and feints to 1B where there's nobody. 

 

Legal, Illegal?

 

Same situation, except throws it out of play.  Place the runners.

Legal, and home and third.

[afaber12]

R2, R3. Pitcher forgets that R1 stole 2b the previous pitch.

He comes set, then all in one motion he steps back and feints to 1B where there's nobody.

Legal, Illegal?

Same situation, except throws it out of play. Place the runners.

Depends on the "... steps back ..." part. If by that you mean steps off the back of the rubber with his pivot foot, disengaging the rubber, then it's legal and not a balk. Ill-advised, but not illegal. If the throw goes out of play, it's 2 bases TOT, so both runners score.

If the step is with the free foot, so he's still engaged, then it's a balk. The throw going out of play would have the same 1 base award as the balk in this case. They're not cumulative awards, so R2 goes to 3rd and R3 scores.

[Replacematt]

R2, R3.  Pitcher forgets that R1 stole 2b the previous pitch.  

 

He comes set, then all in one motion he steps back and feints to 1B where there's nobody. 

 

Legal, Illegal?

 

Same situation, except throws it out of play.  Place the runners.

Legal, and home and third.

It's late. All score.

[maven]

R2, R3.  Pitcher forgets that R1 stole 2b the previous pitch.  

 

He comes set, then all in one motion he steps back and feints to 1B where there's nobody. 

 

Legal, Illegal?

 

Same situation, except throws it out of play.  Place the runners.  

 

This is tricky to rule on. By rule, if F1 is disengaging, the pivot must touch the ground behind the rubber BEFORE the hands separate or the free foot moves.

 

Usually, we're not too technical on the hands: if he steps off and "in one motion" pulls the ball back to feint to 1B, that's a legal disengagement (and so of course a legal feint to 1B by an infielder who is no longer subject to the pitching restrictions).

 

But if the free foot is moving before the pivot is down, that's a jump step, and a move to 1B. F1 is still subject to the pitching restrictions and may not feint to 1B (or 3B in true OBR). I called this balk twice this past HS season, and both coaches were shocked, shocked that I would call that a move to 1B.

 

So, if you rule the disengagement legal, then the feint is legal, and the award for a throw out of play is 2 bases, as others have said. (The added value concerns how to rule on the "disengagement" . )