We’re not even at the All-Star break yet, and the 2022 MLB season has already been a banner year for balks. We’ve already seen Craig Kimbrel break out an intentional balk to prevent sign stealing in the ninth inning. Just last week, we saw the Reds win on just the second walk-off balk in the team’s history.
On Wednesday, the Mets scored on a balk from Braves pitcher Jesse Chavez, and you don’t even need to be an expert on MLB rules to see that balk. It was as blatant as it gets.
With Fransisco Lindor on third base in the seventh inning, Chavez appeared to get distracted by William Contreras’ signal *just* as he was coming set. Chavez tried to stop himself and then immediately realized that he messed up big time.
OHHHHHHHHHHHHLORD pic.twitter.com/zIXZt84OJS
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) July 13, 2022
Between home plate umpire Bill Welke’s enthusiastic call, the “Oh loooord!” response on the MLB Network broadcast and Chavez’s appropriately demoralized reaction to a run scoring, the moment basically epitomized a balk. It’s easily one of baseball’s weirdest plays, especially when this balk had nothing to do with an illegally deceptive pick-off attempt.
Fans also appreciated everything about that balk.