Is a balk a dead ball?
It depends on the rulebook. In high school, the ball is dead right away and runners move up one base. In travel ball and the pros, play continues, and the balk can be wiped out.
What happens when the umpire calls a balk, the pitcher throws anyway, and the batter lines it into the gap? The runner on first comes all the way around. Does the run count?
It depends on whose rulebook you’re using, and the answers are opposite. This is one difference between the books that really matters.
High school. Under NFHS rules, the ball is dead the instant the umpire calls the balk. Whatever happens after that doesn’t count, so the double is erased. The runner goes back to first and then gets second on the balk. The batter comes back to the box with the same count. It doesn’t matter that the offense would have liked the hit better.
Travel ball and the pros. Under the Official Baseball Rules, the balk is a delayed dead ball. The umpire calls it, points, and allows the action to continue when the balk is followed by a pitch or a wild throw that could produce a permitted advance. Then he looks at what happened. If the batter and every runner advanced at least one base, the balk is ignored, and you take the double and the run. If they didn’t all advance, the play is wiped out. The runners get one base for the balk, and the pitch doesn’t count. A balk with no throw at all is simply enforced.
That second version is where coaches get tripped up.
Let’s walk through a few examples…
A walk on the balk pitch with a runner on first is the easy one. Both of them advance, so the balk is ignored and the play stands. A fly out is different, because the batter didn’t advance. The out is erased, the runner gets his base, and the batter hits again.
The play that trips people up is the ball in the gap. With one out, the runner scores and the batter is thrown out stretching the hit into a double. Both of them advanced at least one base, so the balk is ignored. The run counts and the out stands. (With two outs, the run has to cross the plate before that out is made.) The balk only comes back when somebody doesn’t get his base: The batter is retired at first, or a runner is thrown out before reaching the next one.
The pickoff balk is different. The pitcher balks on a throw to first. If the first baseman catches the throw, the umpire calls time and the runner gets second on the balk. If the throw gets away, the runner can keep going past second at his own risk.
If you coach a team that plays USSSA in the summer and high school in the spring, your players will see both. The runner who stops because he heard “balk” is right in a high school game and WRONG in a travel game.
We should teach our runners to keep going until the umpire kills the play. It won’t hurt them in high school, and in travel ball it can win a game.
Which rulebook? NFHS 6-2-4 penalty: a balk is an immediate dead ball, each runner advances one base, and any pitch is a no-pitch. Official Baseball Rules 6.02(a) penalty: the ball is delayed dead. If the balk pitch results in a hit, walk or hit batter and every runner and the batter advance at least one base, the balk is ignored. Otherwise runners get one base and the pitch is nothing. USSSA plays the pro version. Perfect Game's youth sheets carry the delayed dead ball as a stated exception to their high school base rules, so check the sheet for your event.
High school rules. Runner on first. The umpire calls a balk, the pitcher throws home anyway, and the batter doubles into the gap. The runner scores. What happens?
Still have a question? Ask Coach Fungo.
“The first thing I want to know on a balk is which rulebook we're playing under that weekend.”
Mound visits: how many you get, rulebook by rulebook
The number of trips you get to the mound varies by rulebook. In USSSA, a second visit to the same pitcher in one inning means he's done pitching, and Perfect Game sets it event by event, so we need to know the number before the game.
“Write every mound visit down on the lineup card, because the umpire is counting them, too.”
Can a player re-enter the game in youth baseball?
In high school, Little League, USSSA and Perfect Game, a starter can re-enter once in his original batting spot, but a sub who comes out is done (Little League has its own wrinkles). A pitcher who re-enters can play anywhere but the mound, except in high school.
“Before you pull a sub, remember that he isn't coming back.”
The rules quiz
Ten questions, two minutes. Would you have gotten the call right?
New cards land on Instagram and Threads first. Follow along there.
Be the first to comment