Time of pitch
In baseball, the time of pitch is that instant when the pitcher has begun his pitching motion and, by the rules, has committed himself to throwing the pitch. This instant thus occurs before the pitcher actually releases the ball. Once a pitcher commits himself to throwing a pitch, it is illegal for him to return to his set. If that happens, he is charged with a balk, and any baserunners are allowed to advance a base.
A baserunner's time-of-pitch base is the base which he has last legally reached at the time of pitch.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, May 04, 2013. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.