Live ball appeal, pitcher balks, can they still appeal?

[yawetag]

So the no-step is a balk. I was right on this.

And, in OBR and NCAA (and Fed, by extension), F1 can legally (i.e., with a step toward) throw to an unoccupied base for the purpose of an appeal. I would have missed this and called it a balk in Fed.

Thread closed.

[maven]

I see two distinct questions in this thread:

1. If F1 steps/throws to an unoccupied base in order to appeal, is that action a balk? Answer: no (all codes seem to agree).
2. If F1 balks during an appeal, does such action count as a 'play' such that the defense loses its right to appeal again? Answer: yes (all codes seem to agree).

Legally stepping/throwing to an unoccupied base may be part of a legal appeal. Illegally throwing to a base (say, by failing to step) is a balk and expends the opportunity to appeal.

[noumpere]

On 3/1/2019 at 4:02 PM, yawetag said:

So the no-step is a balk. I was right on this.

And, in OBR and NCAA (and Fed, by extension), F1 can legally (i.e., with a step toward) throw to an unoccupied base for the purpose of an appeal. I would have missed this and called it a balk in Fed.

Thread closed.

Glad my "throw-away" comment in post 3 (I think) and again a few later, led to the discussion.  Also glad Maven didn't show up until long later to "ruin" the discussion.

 

I might have to try that technique again.

[Senor Azul]

Mr. noumpere, even though it was another of your posts I didn’t understand, I thank you for bringing it up again. Here’s why.

You answered a post in the High School forum with something about an OBR comment (without a full citation I might add). Yet Mr. yawetag did not remind you or chastise you for doing so. Later in the same thread he saw fit to remind me it was the wrong forum for my post that contained an OBR interpretation and an NCAA rule which was in response to a tangential question he asked in the same thread. So, my question is to Mr. yawetag—why did you single me out? Don’t you think you owe me an apology?

[johnnyg08]

Are we still debating this? 

 

 

[Richvee]

R3 only.  He leaves early on a tag up. F1 engages the rubber, flips the ball to F5 to appeal R3 leaving early , without stepping to 3rd. . ( no runners on). Legal? 

[Aging_Arbiter]

[ilyazhito]

The flip to 3rd without a step, while on the rubber, is illegal. 

Re: whether the defense can appeal after a play, the answer is no. After a (legal or illegal) pitch to the next batter or a play (an attempt to retire a runner), the defense has forfeited the right to appeal. NFHS may have some exceptions for offense-initiated plays, but otherwise, once the defense attempts to retire a runner by some other means (pickoff), they cannot appeal. As a balk is both an illegal pitch and an illegal play, the right to appeal is forfeited for both reasons (illegal pitch and attempted play on a runner).