My only question is...WHY?
That play rarely works - OK Granderson (NY Yankees) got picked off last year. Don’t make the play a balk.
As Harry Caray used to say in a disgusted voice: ‘That play went out with high-button shoes.’
Its very futility should eliminate it, but not a rule change.
They should delay any change in the balk rules until everyone understands the current balk rules.
Are they trying to encourage those idiots who scream balk ALREADY when this occurs?
Not a worse idea than moving the Houston Astros into the American League and then having season-long interleague play.
That will inevitably result in the DH all around.
Power Alley on XM Radio had a short seqment called “Ask the Ump” yesterday, and a former ump discussed this item. It seems that the move has aways been a balk, if rarely called. So, it’s not really a rule change as much as a change in enforcement policy, and the reason appears to be that the Comish thinks it delays the game.
Baseball is incredibly boring. There should be some rules similar to basketball where the shotclock runs down, i.e. the pitcher has to pitch or it gets counts as a ball towards a walk.
When we were kids, there were so many arguments over strikes and balls (same today in pro baseball) that it was simply settled with a garbage can. If you hit the garbage can, it’s a strike. Baseball could use a few simple fixes like this.
Maybe I’m just out there but I personally think that any move by a pitcher to fake a throw should result in a balk. The game is constantly being delayed by pitchers “looking back” runners on base. This should not be allowed. Pitchers should be made to just throw the ball and quit the nonsense.