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Free foot past rubber on feint to 2nd?


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Question

R2.  RHP in set position.  Pitcher wheels toward 2nd in a sort of jab step motion.  Both feet end up on the home plate side of the rubber.  The free foot did wind up closer to second base than where it started.  Pitcher feinted but did not throw.

I had nothing.  Coach claimed it was a balk because the free foot had to clear the rubber (i.e. end up on 2nd base side of the rubber).

What's the right call?

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How did the free foot not end up closer toward 2B than when F1 engaged the rubber in the set position? Unless F1 simply spun on the toes of his non-pivot foot, it would be virtually impossible to not gain distance toward 2B.

The standard for calling a balk would be that F1 did not step toward 2B from his starting position. Gaining distance and/or direction toward 2B rather than clearing the rubber is how we can determine the legality of F1s move(s).  

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On 6/26/2019 at 12:23 PM, Kevin_K said:

How did the free foot not end up closer toward 2B than when F1 engaged the rubber in the set position? Unless F1 simply spun on the toes of his non-pivot foot, it would be virtually impossible to not gain distance toward 2B.

The standard for calling a balk would be that F1 did not step toward 2B from his starting position. Gaining distance and/or direction toward 2B rather than clearing the rubber is how we can determine the legality of F1s move(s).  

DID gain distance/direction. Didn't cross the rubber.

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There was a long thread on this a couple of years ago -- it might be in the college section (or, it might not be).  Most, iirc, started in the "this is legal" camp.  At the end, most, iirc, converted to the "this is a balk" camp.  That is, unless the free foot crosses the rubber, then that movement of that foot is just a move to come set (or to come set again).

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I am amazed at your memory, Mr. noumpere. I think I have found the thread you referred to and, indeed, it was in the Collegiate forum and it was a couple of years ago. It was a thread titled Gaining Ground toward 2nd and it was started in June 2017 by Mr. jms1425. Here’s the link--

 

 

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MLBUM 2013 - nothing about having to cross the rubber

The pitcher, while touching the rubber, must step directly toward a base before throwing to that
base. If a pitcher turns or spins off his free foot without actually stepping, it is a balk.
In stepping to a base, the pitcher must lift his entire non-pivot foot off the ground and bring it
down in a location different from where it started and toward the base. The entire non-pivot foot
must move in a direction and distance to the base. This will constitute a step. The pitcher is not
allowed to lift his non-pivot foot up and bring it back down in the same spot where it started. In
stepping, the heel of the pitcher's free foot may not end up in the same spot it started.

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The text that Mr. Rich Ives quoted from the 2013 edition of the MLBUM is exactly the same in the 2015 edition (entry #48 Stepping To A Base, p. 69). The 2018 Minor League Baseball Umpire Manual has nearly identical language (section 6.21, p. 104).

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Mr. noumpere, I think I have found out that your memory isn’t as great as I first thought. It turns out you made reference to the 2-year-old Collegiate thread just 6 weeks ago in a thread in the Ask the Umpire forum titled Balk or not. On May 16 you even provided a link to the older thread in a response to a guest called BlueBayou. Here’s a link to that thread which also discusses this topic of pitcher’s move toward second base—

 

 

 

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