That's not a pitcher's plate, THIS is a pitcher's plate . . .

[The Man in Blue]

Varsity game under NFHS.  This particular field hosts both the high school and the middle school.  It has two pitcher's plates set, one for the middle school season at 54', one for the high school season at 60'6".

Freshman pitcher in his first HS game.  Pitcher gets rattled and goes back to set up for his next pitch.  Out of habit, he went to the pitcher's plate he has pitched on for the last three years at 54'.  Fortunately, the PU caught this and stopped it before anything could get weird.

Since we love our third-world, convoluted, never going to happen plays . . . 

 

What if this pitcher went to the 54' pitcher's plate and stepped on the plate as if he was stepping on to pitch . . . 

. . . while the shortstop was running the hidden ball trick on R2?

 

What do you have?

 

[BLWizzRanger]

Nothing.  I would treat it like it wasn't there just like we are supposed to do with the safety base once a BR runs through first base properly and tries to return. 

Now if you only asked about if a ball that hits the 54' pitchers plate and goes into foul territory.... how do you ignore that?

[dumbdumb]

balk and move the runner up (deceiving by helping with the hidden ball trick), how do we know (remember we cannot read minds) it is not intentional, just like all those throwing at the batter incidences, and we are told we cannot read minds, we are just looking to to insert ourselves and get into the headlines.. see if he does it again.

i did like your lead into this question.

[MadMax]

On 3/31/2026 at 10:17 PM, The Man in Blue said:

What if this pitcher went to the 54' pitcher's plate and stepped on the plate as if he was stepping on to pitch . . .

I thought you were going to ask "... and comes set?" 

Oh well, doesn't seem important. 

[834k3r]

On 3/31/2026 at 8:17 PM, The Man in Blue said:

Varsity game under NFHS.  This particular field hosts both the high school and the middle school.  It has two pitcher's plates set, one for the middle school season at 54', one for the high school season at 60'6".

Freshman pitcher in his first HS game.  Pitcher gets rattled and goes back to set up for his next pitch.  Out of habit, he went to the pitcher's plate he has pitched on for the last three years at 54'.  Fortunately, the PU caught this and stopped it before anything could get weird.

Since we love our third-world, convoluted, never going to happen plays . . . 

 

What if this pitcher went to the 54' pitcher's plate and stepped on the plate as if he was stepping on to pitch . . . 

. . . while the shortstop was running the hidden ball trick on R2?

 

What do you have?

 

Assuming the 54' pitcher's plate is within the dirt circle, I'd balk it. Our association uses the dirt circle as the definition of "approximately 5 feet."

But on the other hand, he's a freshman. So maybe a "don't do that" warning, then a balk for the next occurance.

[The Man in Blue]

2 hours ago, 834k3r said:

Assuming the 54' pitcher's plate is within the dirt circle, I'd balk it. Our association uses the dirt circle as the definition of "approximately 5 feet."

But on the other hand, he's a freshman. So maybe a "don't do that" warning, then a balk for the next occurance.

 

I wouldn't say a person who is 6'6" is approximately 5'0" . . . 

I get what you are saying though about dirt circle and the inconsistency.  Plus, one of my points in this conversation is that oddly specifically unspecific language of the NFHS.

 

In this case, the kid actually did brainfart and went there out of habit.  He pitched from that spot for the previous three years.  (The umpire talked to him.)  

[The Man in Blue]

12 hours ago, dumbdumb said:

balk and move the runner up (deceiving by helping with the hidden ball trick), 

 

i did like your lead into this question.

 

Based on what?  That is not rulebook language.

 

 

Thank you!

[dumbdumb]

2 hours ago, The Man in Blue said:

 

Based on what?  That is not rulebook language.

 

 

Thank you!

when a pitcher makes an illegal motion on the mound that the umpire deems to be deceitful to the runner(s).  since he is intentionally towing the wrong mound to help the second baseman pull off the HBT ( pitchers are smart and know the runner will see him on a mound, even the wrong one  and will stay off the bag.  didnt say it was correct or NF.

[The Man in Blue]

2 hours ago, dumbdumb said:

when a pitcher makes an illegal motion on the mound that the umpire deems to be deceitful to the runner(s).

 

Again, not rulebook language.  Also, he isn't on the mound.  He is on some decorative object that has no official standing as anything.

[BLWizzRanger]

You didn't say if the runner was a freshman too and could be deceived by the pitcher using the 54' plate.  The runner has to take some responsibility here too.

[834k3r]

16 hours ago, The Man in Blue said:

I get what you are saying though about dirt circle and the inconsistency.  Plus, one of my points in this conversation is that oddly specifically unspecific language of the NFHS.

I get what you're saying. The inconsistency is why our association uses the dirt circle as the definition. It's a visual cue for everyone (at the pre-season rules meeting with the coaches we all talk about it) so no one's surprised. Well, the players tend to be, but that's a different thread.