Is this a balk

[Guest Sprink1964]

Runners on first, second and third less than two outs, infield fly in effect. Pitcher is in contact with mound.  While in contact with mound fakes a throw to third, steps off mound and make a throw to first.  Runner at first is safe.  Umpire calls a Balk.  What say you? 

[basejester]

2014 OBR (2015 OBR 6.02 (a) (2)):

8.05 If there is a runner, or runners, it is a balk when—

. . .

(b) The pitcher, while touching his plate, feints a throw to first or third base and fails to complete the throw;

 

2015 LL:

8.05 If there is a runner, or runners, it is a balk when—

.  .  .

(b) The pitcher, while touching his plate, feints a throw to first base and fails to complete the throw;

 

[conbo61]

Depends on rule set.

[maven]

Depends on rule set.

​Very much so. MLB/MiLB rules (#TheRealOBR) prohibit feinting to 3B. FED does not, nor do many OBR-based codes that have not updated their rules with recent pro changes.

That said, we don't know what the umpire balked. Perhaps, though feinting to 3B was legal in that game (suppose they were playing under FED rules), F1 failed to step before feinting there, and then simply disengaged. That balk call would be correct.

Without knowing a bit more about the situation, it's difficult to assess the correctness of the call.

[Sprink1964]

​Very much so. MLB/MiLB rules (#TheRealOBR) prohibit feinting to 3B. FED does not, nor do many OBR-based codes that have not updated their rules with recent pro changes.

That said, we don't know what the umpire balked. Perhaps, though feinting to 3B was legal in that game (suppose they were playing under FED rules), F1 failed to step before feinting there, and then simply disengaged. That balk call would be correct.

Without knowing a bit more about the situation, it's difficult to assess the correctness of the call.

​Little League Senior baseball

[maven]

I can't speak authoritatively about LL, but IIRC they have not adopted the pro rule prohibiting feinting to 3B.

[zoops]

Make this short.

Only legal in high school.

​And NCAA...

[basejester]

Feint to third from the rubber is legal in Little League in 2015. 

 

Edited June 28, 2015 by basejester

[basejester]

​And NCAA...

​And Little League . . .

[Dbellyflop]

LL rule 8.05

with runners on base it is an illegal pitch (balk in intermediate and above)

b. the pitcher, while touching the plate, feints a throw to first base and fails to complete the throw;

this is one of the rules that doesn't match OBR.... no balk

[Rich Ives]

In little league sr baseball it is a balk to fake to 1st or 3rd while in contact with the rubber

​the LL rule was posted twice above. It is NOT a balk in LL.

[Jimurray]

In little league sr baseball it is a balk to fake to 1st or 3rd while in contact with the rubber

No it isn't to 3B. Do you have a LLGB? If you do, have you read it?

[Replacematt]

​the LL rule was posted twice above. It is NOT a balk in LL.

​At the time he posted, it was not posted.

[Jimurray]

​At the time he posted, it was not posted.

At the time Rich posted, and me by the way, the thread was in some kind of rating order that I hope goes away. You have to go up and find the "sort by" menu to have it chronological at least on some devices. It always gives me a rating list on my antique. 

The rating thing is worthless IMHO. Moderator, please make it go away.

[webspinnre]

At the time Rich posted, and me by the way, the thread was in some kind of rating order that I hope goes away. You have to go up and find the "sort by" menu to have it chronological at least on some devices. It always gives me a rating list on my antique. 

The rating thing is worthless IMHO. Moderator, please make it go away.

​Whoa, hadn't noticed this. This is terrible. At the very least, make it so the default is sort by date, and if people want to pretend that UE is reddit, then allow them to choose sort by rating.

[th3]

I have learned...

[maven]

​Whoa, hadn't noticed this. This is terrible. At the very least, make it so the default is sort by date, and if people want to pretend that UE is reddit, then allow them to choose sort by rating.

​I get Warren's idea for the site: in the forum where non-umpires come to ask questions, it's useful to have higher-rated posts near the top, so that the most relevant info appears first.

What's awkward is that the rest of the site is not like that and is date-ordered. So anyone who just visits threads to see new content will scroll through things differently (dated vs rated) kind of randomly.

So far, it doesn't seem that most readers are willing to rate posts, and that some readers will rate down a person rather than his or her post.

Sorry for the hijack — this thread is probably not the place to sort out this issue.

[DVA7130]

Make this short.

Only legal in high school.

[th3]

In little league sr baseball it is a balk to fake to 1st or 3rd while in contact with the rubber