Quick Windup

[zoops]

Had a team this summer who had a couple pitchers who would occasionally mix in a very quick windup (quick free foot step, quick pivot, next to no leg kick).  Batter was always in the box and alert to the pitcher any time I saw it.  One coach objected to it.  Anything?

[Jimurray]

47 minutes ago, zoops said:

Had a team this summer who had a couple pitchers who would occasionally mix in a very quick windup (quick free foot step, quick pivot, next to no leg kick).  Batter was always in the box and alert to the pitcher any time I saw it.  One coach objected to it.  Anything?

Not from you or me. 

[Senor Azul]

It is OK to speed up his delivery but not to alter his delivery. The pitcher must keep all of the components of his delivery intact. I think the NCAA is the only rule set that addresses this issue in its rule 9-3d Note and is expressed this way--

...must continue to use a normal pitching sequence and arm motion.

There is an official interpretation for OBR found in the 2016 BRD (p. 280)--

A pitcher's windup may be as slow or as fast as he chooses, and this speed does not have to be consistent with every pitch. He may not interrupt or alter his delivery by pitching to the plate mid-way through his windup and before he has stepped to the plate, but this does not prohibit him from speeding up his delivery if he sees a runner attempting to score.

[Jimurray]

1 hour ago, Senor Azul said:

It is OK to speed up his delivery but not to alter his delivery. The pitcher must keep all of the components of his delivery intact. I think the NCAA is the only rule set that addresses this issue in its rule 9-3d Note and is expressed this way--

...must continue to use a normal pitching sequence and arm motion.

There is an official interpretation for OBR found in the 2016 BRD (p. 280)--

A pitcher's windup may be as slow or as fast as he chooses, and this speed does not have to be consistent with every pitch. He may not interrupt or alter his delivery by pitching to the plate mid-way through his windup and before he has stepped to the plate, but this does not prohibit him from speeding up his delivery if he sees a runner attempting to score.

While NCAA and OBR seem to rule the same I think it only applies with a runner going home. See MLB pitchers Stroman and Strop (spelling?). They windup and then don’t windup. Sometimes called and sometimes not depending on whether the ump thought the batter was ready. Do you stop a pitcher from changing arm slots depending on the batter?  I’ve seen an overhand go to a side-underarm depending on the hand of the batter and/or the pitch he was throwing to the same batter

[SeeingEyeDog]

When I work youth ball under FED, non-scholastic? I try to let safety and the flow of the game guide me. Injury is a risk all of us inside the fence accept. As an umpire, I try to avoid situations (if possible) where a player could get hurt. Most of all because I don't want the player getting hurt and secondarily I don't want to face upset parents or coaches or get a post-game phone call from someone within the brotherhood wanting to know why I didn't intervene.  I'm not a magician. I can't prevent every injury...nobody can. I still face upset parents and coaches and I still get phone calls. Fortunately, the phone calls are usually just fact collection and not lecturing me.

So, if it's the above scenario in my first sentence and I have a batter in the box who is NOT alert to the pitcher and the pitcher starts his delivery? I call time and step out of the slot. I will then say quietly to the batter, "Do not step into the box until you are ready. Once in the box, get alert to the pitcher." I will then walk out to the mound, swap the baseball and say, "Please wait until the batter is ready before starting your delivery." This takes care of things for the remainder of the game (unless there's a new pitcher) 98% of the time. That 2% when I have a repeat problem with the same pitcher? I go to the coach.

~Dawg

[MadMax]

On 8/19/2023 at 7:30 PM, zoops said:

One coach objected to it.  Anything?

He’s objecting to it because he’s been conditioning his batters to base their hitting approach off reading pitchers, and their rhythm, timing, and (potential) tells, instead of reading pitches. 

With no-one on base, the pitcher is under no obligation to keep anything “consistent” from pitch to pitch, provided he doesn’t leap or launch from the rubber, and that he provides adequate time to the batter to be in the box and alert to the pitcher. Violation of the first is factual (in contact or not), and results in an illegal pitch. Violation of the second is judgmental (by the umpire), and results in a call of Quick Pitch → Illegal Pitch. 

In this age of video, simulators, and pitching machines, everyone’s looking for this over-analytical, perfection-through-repetition hitting approach. You can tell by watching whole lineups take pitches – fat, juicy, meatball pitches – in early counts, just to either force scenarios, or deduce pitcher tells, or drive up his pitch counts. Whatever happened to “see your (a good one) pitch, put your bat on it”? 

You hear something eerily similar when Runners are on, and pitchers are in the set / stretch. “Doesn’t he have to do that the same every time?” “No, Coach, he doesn’t. He simply has to come to a discernible pause (stop). Weren’t you the same coach who, just a half-inning ago, was telling your pitcher to ‘vary your looks!’?” “Uh, yeah.” “Ever wonder what that applies to?” 🤔

If pressed, I’d give “that coach” a Baseball Darwinism reply – “Adapt, or K”.