Professional courtesy or leery of a gotcha

[Jimurray]

Game 3 tonite WS 3rd inning bases loaded with ATL Freeman at 3B and L. Garcia, the 3 step windup, on the mound. I never would have thought he would wind up like that with R3 but he did. Announcers were all agog. Me too. Why didn't Freeman steal home? Well the thing is Garcia has a TOP and then takes a long time to go home and he could never throw to 3B. But if R3 took off on Garcia's first step forward, toward 3B, Garcia could modify his windup to go straight home without the backword step. So R3 would have to wait until the foot was in the air backword. Now Garcia becomes quicker to the plate once that first step is finished. You don't have to windup the same way every time. But I don't know why Freeman wouldn't have extended his lead at Garcia's TOP except maybe HOU catcher Maldonaldo would make him scoot back every time after receiving.

 

[Velho]

I’m with you @Jimurray I noticed Freeman didn’t extend his lead until the knee came up.

I’d love to see what would happen with someone more aggressive like Altuve on 3B. Would a balk would be called for Garcia stepping off in the middle of his salsa?

[Jimurray]

41 minutes ago, Velho said:

I’m with you @Jimurray I noticed Freeman didn’t extend his lead until the knee came up.

I’d love to see what would happen with someone more aggressive like Altuve on 3B. Would a balk would be called for Garcia stepping off in the middle of his salsa?

I would consider the start of rocking to be TOP so I don’t think he could step off legally. 

[Velho]

1 hour ago, Jimurray said:

start of rocking to be TOP

Anyone who has ever tried to get a baby to sleep would agree