NFHS Pitching

[Supertay19]

In current 2023 NFHS is the pitcher allowed from the windup position to create momentum with his foot for the pitch.  Pivot foot and free foot together on mound basically then he takes his free foot steps backwards straight creating the momentum and then reversing to now complete the pitch.?

coach said he can’t do this   help. Thanks

[Jimurray]

23 minutes ago, Supertay19 said:

In current 2023 NFHS is the pitcher allowed from the windup position to create momentum with his foot for the pitch.  Pivot foot and free foot together on mound basically then he takes his free foot steps backwards straight creating the momentum and then reversing to now complete the pitch.?

coach said he can’t do this   help. Thanks

Did the coach say it was against the rule? It isn't. He is allowed a step forward or sideways or backward and forward. Did the coach say he shouldn't do that because windup pitchers rarely use this "antiquated" delivery? In order to do this most square pitchers have to violate the remaining in contact with the rubber by the pivot foot in order to turn the pivot foot from perpendicular to somewhat sideways. Nobody would ever use the literal rule to prohibit that. But you say to create momentum. In order to do that does he run into the pitch with the pivot foot, gaining ground from the rubber? That would be illegal. Video would help.

[Senor Azul]

The bit of text that Mr. Jimurray referred us to appears as the last sentence in NFHS rule 6-1-2. Here it is in its entirety:

During delivery, the pitcher may lift the non-pivot foot in a step forward, a step sideways, or in a step backward and a step forward, but the pitcher shall not otherwise lift either foot.

This sentence was added to the rule in 2004 to clarify what a pitcher could do during his delivery. Funny thing is that the addition was called a minor editorial revision not a rule change. So apparently a pitcher was always allowed to make these steps. 

The NCAA and the OBR rule the same way. So not sure where the coach got the idea that anything like this is illegal.

[noumpere]

8 hours ago, Supertay19 said:

In current 2023 NFHS is the pitcher allowed from the windup position to create momentum with his foot for the pitch.  Pivot foot and free foot together on mound basically then he takes his free foot steps backwards straight creating the momentum and then reversing to now complete the pitch.?

coach said he can’t do this   help. Thanks

Sounds like the coach is confusing the legal move with "running into the pitch", which involves stepping forward with the pivot foot.

[JSam21]

4 hours ago, Senor Azul said:

The bit of text that Mr. Jimurray referred us to appears as the last sentence in NFHS rule 6-1-2. Here it is in its entirety:

During delivery, the pitcher may lift the non-pivot foot in a step forward, a step sideways, or in a step backward and a step forward, but the pitcher shall not otherwise lift either foot.

This sentence was added to the rule in 2004 to clarify what a pitcher could do during his delivery. Funny thing is that the addition was called a minor editorial revision not a rule change. So apparently a pitcher was always allowed to make these steps. 

The NCAA and the OBR rule the same way. So not sure where the coach got the idea that anything like this is illegal.

Slight correction... The NCAA wording for the wind up states that they may only take one step forward with either foot. So if the pitcher steps forward with the free foot and doesn't deliver a pitch, it is illegal. "The pitcher may take one step backward or sideward and one step forward with the free foot."

[maven]

If the coach is complaining about a garden variety "rocker step," he's just wrong. Black letter rule permits one step.

I will sometimes hear a coach complain about the pivot foot stepping: F1 will turn the pivot from perpendicular to parallel with the rubber, sometimes adjusting it in the hole in front of the rubber. This step is allowed by interpretation in all codes, as it confers no advantage.

When action is allowed by interpretation, it's sometimes challenging to convince the coach. One remark I've used—after my best answer to his questions—is: "Coach, just like the courts interpret the law, my job here is to interpret the rules. My training tells me that this rule should be interpreted this way. You're welcome to disagree [or "protest," where that's allowed], but that's what we're going with. Now let's play ball."

[MadMax]

12 hours ago, Supertay19 said:

coach said he can’t do this   help. Thanks

Be aware of Viral Umpiring™️. Rarely – rarely – does a coach delve into the minutiae of a rule on his own, unprovoked. Those rare exceptions are typically if he is a professional (paid) hitting or pitching coach. By and large, amateur coaches learn rules details or modifications by proxy… 

… or by Viral Umpiring… ie. some umpire called them on “it” (whatever vacuous “ruling” it is), and then justified it by some equally vacuous explanation that is more reliant upon word quantity and false-logic circles than on exact book vernacular. 

So, often, we aren’t dealing with just an errant coach, but also with errant colleagues who muddied the waters before us. 

[Supertay19]

It gets better as the pitcher used this move to step,back for momentum so to speak at the same time the batter though he was stepping off and vacated the entire batters box with both feet and the pitcher delivered the ball. Was Tbuck18 a strike but the rules call for 2 strikes I believe in this scenario.

[Jimurray]

1 hour ago, Supertay19 said:

It gets better as the pitcher used this move to step,back for momentum so to speak at the same time the batter though he was stepping off and vacated the entire batters box with both feet and the pitcher delivered the ball. Was Tbuck18 a strike but the rules call for 2 strikes I believe in this scenario.

The rules can be interpreted as calling 2 strikes if the batter delays the game. Most of us just call 1 penalty strike. Was this the first pitch in the game for this pitcher? Is he a rare square windup pitcher who uses the step back but does not use the windup arm motion and steps back with both hands together. Otherwise hard to picture a batter mistaking this for a disengage.

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