My son was just named to a summer all star team which has a coach my son has never played for. They had their first practice yesterday and this coach was showing these kids some "tricky" pick-off moves he wants to use in their games. Some of them took me back to Little League, I call them BS moves. Just trickery and well, BS, IMO. I laughed out loud (and the coach noticed), as he showed the kids this one move. Runner on second, pitcher toes the rubber with both feet as if he's going to pitch from a wind up (Why? I have no idea!). The catcher holds his bare hand inside his mitt until the SS breaks for second and then separates his hands thereby giving the pitcher the signal to wheel and fire to second. The pitcher never steps back off the rubber, just goes from two feet on the rubber facing the batter, to spinning and firing to second. I heard my son say "Coach, that's a balk, isn't it?" and the coach said no, as long as the pitcher indeed throws the ball to second. I chuckled and shook my head as I walked back to spend the rest of the practice in my air conditioned car. That's a no brainer isn't it? I'm sure it's a balk. Someone tell me if I'm wrong. These kids are 17 years old and probably know more about the game than this coach. It's embarassing.
Creative Thought Matters
Posts: 901 | Location: New England | Registered: February 10, 2004
You are correct, if he's in the full windup position he must step off with his pivot foot first. The coach is confusing this with the "set position", which most of us call "the stretch".
Posts: 2423 | Location: Virginia | Registered: February 01, 2006
True, if the game is being played under NFHS (Fed) Rules a pitcher in the wind up position must step off (pivot foot first) before he can throw to a base. However, under Official Baseball Rules (OBR) a pitcher in the wind up position can throw to a base in an attepmted pick-off without disengaging first. He is required to step toward the base ahead of the throw but he doesn't have to step off first.
Ref. OBR Rule 8.01(a)(1)
Posts: 479 | Location: Saratoga County, NY | Registered: June 20, 2005
Is it possible that the coach is hoping for the base umpire to miss the pitcher clearly being in the windup position...??? If so, thats quite a risk....
There are inherent faults with the 2 man system that can be exploited by coaches, but this is not one of them.....
This is not something that would catch most experienced umpires, but I have seen the inexperienced umpire get distracted and miss balks......
Clearly many umpires miss the balk of the pitcher disengaging from the rubber with the non pivot foot....and many ignore that balk at less than varsity levels.....
In my HS/college chapter, we teach the split responsiblity for balks.....UIC has the upper body and the BU has the legs......
Posts: 1914 | Location: Pennsylvania | Registered: January 07, 2003
The pitcher never steps back off the rubber, just goes from two feet on the rubber facing the batter, to spinning and firing to second. I heard my son say "Coach, that's a balk, isn't it?" and the coach said no, as long as the pitcher indeed throws the ball to second.
Well guess I gotta see this, but my first thought is balk; you say no step, what exactly is this spin? I expect to see from the wind up, first not even a little hint of a wind up, ie. the hands beginning to come together or coming up in what even looks the begining of the pitching motion, okay made it that far, now I would expect to see a fluid step with with distance and direction, with toes pointing somewhere towards whichever base he's throwing too. I'm just not seeing a good spin type move in my head. As far as the play itself, seen it work many times, a good timing play, suggest to your son to try the same play from the stretch, step straight back towards second with the pivot foot, reverse pivot, bang. Let us know how it worked in a game.
Posts: 240 | Location: W | Registered: May 23, 2005
