Ugh I HATE the balk rule so much. It's been horribly broken and horribly complained about since before I was born (according to my father and his father).
The /r/baseball copypasta is funny because it's true. There's no consistency to when umpires call balks and most of the calls literally seem random.
I would replace all of 8.05 with something like this:
1) To deliver a legal pitch, the pitcher must begin their motion with one foot on the pitcher plate and one foot on the ground in front of the pitcher plate.
2) If the front foot is lifted off the ground before the back foot is lifted from the pitcher plate, the pitcher must throw home. Any other throw is a balk.
That's it. To throw to a base you would have to lift your back foot off the rubber — or throw without lifing either foot. This rule is a bit stricter than the current rule in some ways, but much more permissive in other ways. On balance it might raise steals a little bit but I really don't know. We'd have to test it. (I originally wrote this rule before the 2024 rule changes.) The important thing is that it would entirely eliminate any confusion about balks.
The balk rule is maddening and MLB needs to fix it. They've shown a willingness to fix pace of play and they are even using robo-umps in the minor leagues. They need to come up with a couple of better balk rules and test them in the minors. And then we can finally stop arguing about what a balk is and die happy.
Ugh I HATE the balk rule so much. It's been horribly broken and horribly complained about since before I was born (according to my father and his father).
The /r/baseball copypasta is funny because it's true. There's no consistency to when umpires call balks and most of the calls literally seem random.
I would replace all of 8.05 with something like this:
1) To deliver a legal pitch, the pitcher must begin their motion with one foot on the pitcher plate and one foot on the ground in front of the pitcher plate.
2) If the front foot is lifted off the ground before the back foot is lifted from the pitcher plate, the pitcher must throw home. Any other throw is a balk.
That's it. To throw to a base you would have to lift your back foot off the rubber — or throw without lifing either foot. This rule is a bit stricter than the current rule in some ways, but much more permissive in other ways. On balance it might raise steals a little bit but I really don't know. We'd have to test it. (I originally wrote this rule before the 2024 rule changes.) The important thing is that it would entirely eliminate any confusion about balks.
The balk rule is maddening and MLB needs to fix it. They've shown a willingness to fix pace of play and they are even using robo-umps in the minor leagues. They need to come up with a couple of better balk rules and test them in the minors. And then we can finally stop arguing about what a balk is and die happy.
He does not step toward first base. This is clearly a balk in my opinion. He must step ahead of the throw.
The balk rule is just as subjective as a check swing....or a pass interference for that matter.