Tag: Balk

Side-by-side video shows umpire Phil Cuzzi calling an awful balk despite no change in Matt Gage’s delivery

Same exact motion: Two DIFFERENT calls.

When fans see the names of certain umpires on game assignments, they’ve come to expect a share of controversy. Phil Cuzzi is absolutely one of those umpires.

Cuzzi, of course, was the umpire at the center of Max Scherzer’s ejection for using sticky substances despite Scherzer’s adamant claim that he was only using sweat and rosin. Cuzzi also baited Gabe Kapler into an ejection last season. It’s nothing new for him.

But at the very least, fans and players want umpires to call games consistently and accurately. Cuzzi fell short there on Sunday with Astros reliever Matt Gage on the mound. As Gage was facing the Mariners’ J.P. Crawford, Cuzzi stopped play to call a balk on Gage.

It turned out, though, that Gage’s delivery from the stretch was a mirror image with the previous pitch (not called a balk).

Cuzzi seemed to think that Gage started his movement towards the plate, but we can see that he didn’t. His regular act of coming set includes a pair of steps back with that front leg. He wasn’t starting his progression towards the plate or attempting to deceive the runner. Basically, it was the wrong call from Cuzzi, and he made the game about himself with the demonstration.

Gage would eventually strike out Crawford to end the inning, but fans weren’t thrilled with Cuzzi’s antics at all.

Braves pitcher Jesse Chavez had a spot-on reaction after committing the most blatant balk

Now, THAT is a balk.

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.

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.