What did he do?

[Jimurray]

Tampa  NYY tonight 7/28 T9, 2 out R1. What was the balk? I thought I saw a proper jab step. Did U1 call that balk and why. If it was a knee pop I will never make MLB as an umpire, aside from my many other deficiencies. Anyway no harm no foul and nobody even questioned the balk.

[SH0102]

19 hours ago, Jimurray said:

Tampa  NYY tonight 7/28 T9, 2 out R1. What was the balk? I thought I saw a proper jab step. Did U1 call that balk and why. If it was a knee pop I will never make MLB as an umpire, aside from my many other deficiencies. Anyway no harm no foul and nobody even questioned the balk.

Video ?

[dumbdumb]

On 7/28/2021 at 10:02 PM, Jimurray said:

Tampa  NYY tonight 7/28 T9, 2 out R1. What was the balk? I thought I saw a proper jab step. Did U1 call that balk and why. If it was a knee pop I will never make MLB as an umpire, aside from my many other deficiencies. Anyway no harm no foul and nobody even questioned the balk.

i would say no step assuming they do not have to step back off the rubber with pivot foot and jab step is still allowed. non pivot basically just comes back toward rubber and not a big enough step towards first(some may call it a non-pivot foot jab step or spin move-step not far enough to first). others may disagree. there are several shots at 1, 27, 49 of this watching the whole video. but none are from home plate angle looking towards the mound or 2nd base angle looking towards the mound. do not think 1BU called this. others did.

what i have noticed over time is that this step towards first does not have to be a big step like marking off a football penalty, but draw a line from the back heel of the non pivot foot towards the rubber. the step with the whole foot must end up over that line. so a size 12" shoe must have the heel land at least 13" inches and you better make it 14" or more towards the base or it just looks like you made a non step or a spin move and kept your foot in that same 12" circle spot it started in. not explaining this well but that is what it looks like, not saying this is the rule. some other rule sets may not make the step be but 1 inch as stepping, even though 11 inches of the foot are still in the original spot that the foot started in. so, let the people in the know here, with the contacts, explain what they know the step with the non pivot foot must be, and what the step is, for all the rule sets. and remember, no matter what ,this is a judgment call no matter how explicit or not the wording of the rule may be. just like balls and strikes, a pitch 1/2 inch off the plate to one, may look like a pitch that caught the plate by a 1/2 inch to another.

 

[Rich Ives]

Disengaged forward. A jab step would be toward 3B.

BTW on step length the MLBUM says

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.

IOW the step could be 1".

 

[Jimurray]

43 minutes ago, Rich Ives said:

Disengaged forward. A jab step would be toward 3B.

BTW on step length the MLBUM says

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.

IOW the step could be 1".

 

I have to agree with @dumbdumb. Probably a no step. I didn't see any chance of a knee pop and there was a proper jab step to 3B. I'm guessing the manager's "what he do" was responded to by a leg slap from one of the umps which then let him know he couldn't come out for an explanation.

[Jimurray]

3 hours ago, Jimurray said:

I have to agree with @dumbdumb. Probably a no step. I didn't see any chance of a knee pop and there was a proper jab step to 3B. I'm guessing the manager's "what he do" was responded to by a leg slap from one of the umps which then let him know he couldn't come out for an explanation.

After checking MLB  TV it was the PU who called it. There was one view from CF where you could judge a 1" step. But it was not much and you could understand the PU judging no step. 

[Replacematt]

1 hour ago, Jimurray said:

After checking MLB  TV it was the PU who called it. There was one view from CF where you could judge a 1" step. But it was not much and you could understand the PU judging no step. 

You can understand it because there was none. The foot moved only slightly (whether it met the distance requirement is debatable) and more towards second than first.

[mark38090]

Wouldn't it be because his back foot literally moved in front of the rubber? His back foot gained distance to home instead of stepping "back" off of the rubber. 

[Tborze]

46 minutes ago, mark38090 said:

Wouldn't it be because his back foot literally moved in front of the rubber? His back foot gained distance to home instead of stepping "back" off of the rubber. 

This was a “jump turn” and considered to be still engaged with the rubber, so certain requirements must be met.  
In this case, the pitcher must step (non pivot) and throw to 1st. The “step” must gain ground (explained above). 
In this case, there are no restrictions on the pivot foot or where it needs to land. 
To me, the pitcher only pivoted on his “free” foot and didn’t satisfy the requirement of a step.