Pitcher patting the glove

[Guest Mike]

If a pitcher pats the ball in his glove after he lifts his stride leg to go to the plate, is it a bulk?  

[noumpere]

No.

 

(This has been asked multiple times recently--to be fair, it might have been elsewhere once or twice; apparently, it's the question of the year.  At least it's a change from "does the run score when the third out is an appeal because the runner was "forced" to return to the base)

[Thunderheads]

NOT A BALK!!!!!!!

Asked, answered, same in all codes.

perfect example of a post in the 'ask the umpire' section that could be locked, but ... I won't.

[Aging_Arbiter]

On 4/11/2022 at 10:11 AM, Thunderheads said:

NOT A BALK!!!!!!!

Asked, answered, same in all codes.

perfect example of a post in the 'ask the umpire' section that could be locked, but ... I won't.

[MadMax]

On 4/10/2022 at 6:15 AM, noumpere said:

This has been asked multiple times recently--to be fair, it might have been elsewhere once or twice;

I have a hunch that it was either… 

• Called (or not called) in a televised MLB or NCAA game, and the guest analysts (themselves not umpires) made an absolute hash of explaining it, or… 
• a significant state association of umpires was exhibiting and diagramming balks at one of their pre-season clinics (worse, it was conducted via Zoom or GTM), and it was mentioned “this” was a Balk

We’ve had a rash of this question on Quora, too. And as we know, once a rules argument breaks out on Facebook, God help us on trying to contain it and resolve it. 

[Replacematt]

On 4/10/2022 at 8:15 AM, noumpere said:

No.

 

(This has been asked multiple times recently--to be fair, it might have been elsewhere once or twice; apparently, it's the question of the year.  At least it's a change from "does the run score when the third out is an appeal because the runner was "forced" to return to the base)

<s>With runners on first and third (one out,) the pitcher repeatedly pats the ball in their glove while they're in their motion to pitch and the batter hits a fly ball to the outfield. The runner on third didn't leave until the ball was caught, but the runner on first clearly left early. When we throw to first for the force out, does the run still score on the balk? What happens to the batter? </s>