Balk or Reset?

[Coach Carl]

NCAA (DIII, if it matters).  I was a spectator.

Bases Loaded.  Pitcher is taking signs from an electronic device on his wrist. 

He catches the ball from his catcher after a pitch and walks back to the mound.  Without looking towards home he gets into his stretch position with his foot on the rubber, hands apart.  He looks at his wrist for the sign, then, without looking towards home, begins to bring his hands together to go set.  As he does this, he looks at home and sees that the catcher and batter are not ready.  Before actually bringing them together, he drops his hands back to his side.    

Umpire called balk.  I agree as I think the pitcher should have continued to come set and waited for everyone to get ready or let the umpire direct him to relax.  But maybe, given the sitch the umpire should have called just called time rather than a balk and let him reset?  

[MadMax]

6 hours ago, Coach Carl said:

But maybe, given the sitch the umpire should have called just called time rather than a balk and let him reset?

No NCAA/NAIA/NJCAA umpire ever would do that. If they did, there’d be hell to pay. 

Under NCAA rules, pitchers (F1) are under a 20-second action clock. They must pitch, or otherwise pickoff to a base with Runner (whether that be via throw or run-down; there are further details) within that 20 seconds. Barring that, if they legally disengage without throwing or retiring the Runner via chase-down, they are charged a Reset. F1’s are allowed 1 Reset per at-bat. A second Reset with the same Runner configuration (no Runners advanced or retired) and At-Bat is penalized with a Ball added to the count. In the same way, a violation / expiration of the 20-second clock is a penalty of a Ball added to the count. 

Now, with that said, the presence of the 20-second clock does not absolve the pitcher the legal pitching requirements of foot position, stepping, engagement/ disengagement, set position, “coming set”, start/stop, etc. What your example committed was a start/stop Balk, and would have been called the same as if it was pre-Rule. The only legal recourse he had was to complete coming set, then stepped off legally, and either “accept” the Reset, or request Time from an Umpire. If an umpire warrants it, he can waive the Reset (eg. ball change?, etc), or at the “worst” charge his club with a charged defensive conference. 

However, with the ball Live, he still has to satisfy the legal pitching (positioning, movements, etc.) requirements, clock or not. 

[JSam21]

Pitcher can’t start the motion to come set until the batter is ready to hit, “eyes up”. The call of a balk was correct.

[Coach Carl]

10 hours ago, JSam21 said:

Pitcher can’t start the motion to come set until the batter is ready to hit, “eyes up”. The call of a balk was correct.

To clarify, are you saying it's a balk because he started the motion when the batter was not ready?  In other words, had he come set and then waited, would he be fine?  

MadMax's answer indicates to me that the latter is acceptable.

[BigBlue4u]

On 4/25/2024 at 7:07 AM, Coach Carl said:

To clarify, are you saying it's a balk because he started the motion when the batter was not ready?  In other words, had he come set and then waited, would he be fine?  

No he would not be fine because the batter would not be aware that the pitcher had come set..

[MadMax]

On 4/25/2024 at 7:07 AM, Coach Carl said:

To clarify, are you saying it's a balk because he started the motion when the batter was not ready?

Nope. He started his motion and aborted it, ie. a Start/Stop Balk. 

On 4/25/2024 at 7:07 AM, Coach Carl said:

In other words, had he come set and then waited, would he be fine?

Sure. He could have come set and picked (with throw) to any base (the throw satisfies a Reset without charge), regardless of the batter being alert. He could have started his motion, and pick-thrown to a base, again, thus satisfying the Reset. He could have come set and held it for 15 seconds, perfectly still. 

He cannot pitch until the batter is alert, which in NCAA, is under a 10-second window (or limit, or allowance, etc.). 

A NCAA umpire is not going to “bail him out” (with a “free” call of Time) unless there are extreme circumstances (eg. earthquake tremor, paraglider drops into the stadium, s#!t-ton of bees 🐝, etc). 

[Jimurray]

On 4/24/2024 at 3:14 PM, MadMax said:

 

The only legal recourse he had was to complete coming set, then stepped off legally,  

Are you saying there is a rule prohibiting stepping off while coming set or that it's a good technique due to the possibility of the umpire perceiving a start-stop and then a step off.

[MadMax]

On 4/27/2024 at 11:13 AM, Jimurray said:

Are you saying there is a rule prohibiting stepping off while coming set or that it's a good technique due to the possibility of the umpire perceiving a start-stop and then a step off.

The second one. 

I did not mention “stepping off” as an option, because the OP did not disclose whether or not the F1 already had a Reset counted against him. 

[SeeingEyeDog]

On 4/27/2024 at 2:23 AM, MadMax said:

...unless there are extreme circumstances (eg. earthquake tremor, paraglider drops into the stadium, s#!t-ton of bees 🐝, etc). 

...or midges...in 2007...in Cleveland...I'll take "What an umpire needs to see at a game to give F1 a break" for $200, please Alex...

~Dawg

[Biscuit]

On 4/24/2024 at 10:10 PM, JSam21 said:

Pitcher can’t start the motion to come set until the batter is ready to hit, “eyes up”. The call of a balk was correct.

In the two conferences I work, our direction is to call time if a pitcher comes set before the batter is aware. If the pitcher abuses this, call the pitch clock violation. I'm not entirely sure this goes well with the rule as written, so I'd love to hear what others are being instructed to do in this situation. 

[Richvee]

4 hours ago, Biscuit said:

In the two conferences I work, our direction is to call time if a pitcher comes set before the batter is aware. If the pitcher abuses this, call the pitch clock violation. I'm not entirely sure this goes well with the rule as written, so I'd love to hear what others are being instructed to do in this situation. 

I was going to post something similar. The direction we’ve been given from the NCAA, as far as I can tell from the video bulletins, is, if a pitcher begins to come set before the batter is alert, call time. Issue one warning per team that the pitcher must wait for the batter to be alert before starting to come set. If it happens again, call time, issue a ball for a clock violation. 
 

If this is followed, it would eliminate a balk call, because the PU should be calling time once the pitcher started to come set without the batter being alert.