Balk with runner at 2nd

[tompeters]

The pitcher, from the set position, starts into motion, twists his body so that he is entirely facing 2nd base with his back to the batter, and then pitches to the batter. Although his motion was continuous, is this a balk?

[drewbryan]

I would say this is not a balk unless the pitcher was flagrantly deceptive with it, which he wouldn't be if his motion was continuous. There have been major league pitchers (Kevin Brown, Luis Tiant) who have done this routinely with runners on second base.

[tompeters]

One thing that bothered me about this pitcher was that he didn't always swivel back and look at second, the way that Tiant did. (Tiant did it even in his windup.) He only did it with a runner at second, and even with a runner at second, he didn't always do it. He was clearly trying to bluff the runner to start moving back to second as he pitched.

Also, although the motion is continuous in a way, the fact that he changes directions as he swivels means that for an instant his motion is disrupted. The MLB rule book uses the phrase "without interruption and in one continuous motion" and his action doesn't really match that, because he changes directions.

So all in all, it seems a balk to me, but I want to be consistent with the umpire community, and so I put it on the forum.

[mike]

a balk is also an effort to deceive a runner
so it seems to me thats what was going on especially
since he was changing and doing different things with a runner on second

[jbrowar16]

This is not a balk. The pitcher does not have to have the same motion to the plate each time he pitches.