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Thursday, April 18, 2013

Quick Pitch Davidson Rules Hasty Return, Automatic Ball

Inning #12 proved odd as plate umpire Bob Davidson negated an Oliver Perez 0-1 strike during Wednesday's Tigers-Mariners game. With none out and none on, Perez's 0-1 fastball to Tigers batter Victor Martinez was aborted after Perez rushed through his delivery. Though Rule 8.01(b) generally requires a pitcher employing Set Position to hold the ball in both hands in front of his body and to come to a complete stop, Rule 8.01(b) Comment exempts the pitcher from this "complete stop" requirement with no runners on base.
With no runners on base, the pitcher is not required to come to a complete stop when using the Set Position. If, however, in the umpire’s judgment, a pitcher delivers the ball in a deliberate effort to catch the batter off guard, this delivery shall be deemed a quick pitch, for which the penalty is a ball. See Rule 8.05(e) Comment.
Quick pitches with no runners result in an auto. ball
Replays indicate that Perez did satisfy the hands-in-front-of-body requirement and did not come to a complete stop, though Rule 8.01(b) Comment specifies the illegality of a quick return pitch, which is what Davidson ruled Perez was guilty of; Perez was charged an extra ball for his effort.

In 2011, the UEFL held a Quick Pitch discussion after umpire Mike Everitt charged Royals pitcher Bruce Chen with an automatic ball for attempting an illegal quick return pitch.

On August 15, 2012, Everitt ejected Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and Manager Bobby Valentine for arguing a quick pitch no-call. Since 2011, quick pitch no-calls have resulted in two other ejections, both occurring during the same week in May 2011 (Rob Drake of Troy Tulowitzki [5/20/11], Ed Hickox of Jerry Hairston, Jr. [5/27/11]).

With no runners no base, the penalty is an automatic ball; with runners on, it is a balk: Rule 8.05(e).*
*Prior to 1964, a complete stop was defined as full cessation of movement lasting at least one second.

Video: Davidson renders Perez's pitch of quick return, adding a ball to the count; Wedge briefly argues
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5 comments:

  1. LindsayApril 18, 2013 at 8:05 PM

    The thing was the batter was ready, it was just Bob that was not ready.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LindsayApril 18, 2013 at 9:27 PM

    Of course it is a judgement call but tough to call that if you're looking down at the ground! Bob needs to go - sloppy mechanics, phantom balk calls, suspension, & now illegal pitch because he wasnt looking.

    ReplyDelete
  3. LindsayApril 19, 2013 at 9:08 AM

    Hit the nail on the head, the only thing you are looking for on a quick pitch is if the batter is ready for the pitch or not. The batter looked ready for a few seconds before the pitch came!

    ReplyDelete
  4. LindsayApril 19, 2013 at 3:29 PM

    Sigh... Bob used to be one of my favorites. But now it's just brutal to watch him. You know it's bad when the visiting (benefiting team) broadcasters are saying it was bad.

    ReplyDelete
  5. LindsayApril 20, 2013 at 1:32 PM

    Batter was reasonable set...I didn't see anything wrong with the pitch.

    ReplyDelete