Legal move or not?

[piranhaost]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some clarification on a play that occurred during our game this past weekend.

We had a situation where our pitcher performed an "inside move"  to second base with a runner on. As you can see in the video here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zhvyO50Nbe6GoQ9ZqneKyZ4M-t5h3vIk/view?usp=sharing, the umpire initially called the runner out. However, after the play, the umpire mentioned he felt he might have missed it because, in his view, the pitcher's first step was toward second base, and he believed the pitcher was required to actually throw to the base if he stepped toward it.

My understanding has always been that, with the inside move, the pitcher is not required to throw to second base.

I’d love to get your thoughts on this play. Based on the video, do you consider this a balk, or is this a legal move? Tahnks Sven

[jimurrayalterego]

47 minutes ago, piranhaost said:

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some clarification on a play that occurred during our game this past weekend.

We had a situation where our pitcher performed an "inside move"  to second base with a runner on. As you can see in the video here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zhvyO50Nbe6GoQ9ZqneKyZ4M-t5h3vIk/view?usp=sharing, the umpire initially called the runner out. However, after the play, the umpire mentioned he felt he might have missed it because, in his view, the pitcher's first step was toward second base, and he believed the pitcher was required to actually throw to the base if he stepped toward it.

My understanding has always been that, with the inside move, the pitcher is not required to throw to second base.

I’d love to get your thoughts on this play. Based on the video, do you consider this a balk, or is this a legal move? Tahnks Sven

pickoff2.mov

Legal. You can feint to 2B from the rubber on any type of move. The feint requires a step toward 2B. No throw or arm motion is required. Once the step happened and the pivot foot came of the rubber the pitcher is considered disengaged and can run at the runner or throw anywhere.