Expert: John Madden - 11/6/2009

Question
When a pitcher, in his strech, comes up to his set position, does the ball have to be completely in his glove?

Answer
Eddie,

I'm not 100% sure about the ruling on this one but I believe that the baseball does have to be in the glove at the set.

With that being said, I don't think that many umpires will call a balk if the ball is not completely in there.  There was one guy I used to play with who would never actually touch the ball to his glove.  It would be outside of the glove the whole time.  However it did look like it was in the glove, so I'm not sure if the umps didn't call it because they didn't see it, or because there is no rule against it.  Sorry I couldn't be more help.

Please check out this website:  http://www.yougoprobaseball.com/Landing_Page.html  It has a TON of information like this to help you out!!

Good Luck Eddie!