The relevant regulation is Official Baseball Rule 5.07(a)(2) Comment, which states, "With a runner or runners on base, a pitcher will be presumed to be pitching from the Set Position if they stand with their pivot foot in contact with and parallel to the pitcher’s plate, and their other foot in front of the pitcher’s plate, unless they notify the umpire that they will be pitching from the Windup Position under such circumstances prior to the beginning of an at-bat."
Prior to the previous batter Fernando Tatis' at-bat in the bottom of the 6th inning of Tuesday's Pirates-Padres game in San Diego, Pittsburgh pitcher Ashcraft declared to the umpires his intention of delivering from Windup Position while using the hybrid stance as prescribed by OBR 5.07(a)(2) Comment. But after Tatis struck out, Ashcraft did not re-declare his use of Windup prior to the ensuing Cronenworth at-bat.
By rule (presently, until and if MLB ever changes it), the hybrid declaration (to use Windup while footwork is in Set Position [or an ambiguous diagonal angle]) must be made before each new batter the pitcher intends to invoke OBR 5.07(a)(2) Comment.
HP Umpire Merzel made this same call on Braves pitcher Chris Sale, resulting in the ejections of pitcher and manager Walt Weiss on August 12.
Related Post: MLB Ejections 090-1 - Dan Merzel (x2; Weiss & Chris Sale) (8/12/26).
The history of Hybrid is that pitchers sometimes opt to use the stance when there is a runner on third base. The rule allows a pitcher to declare if a runner advances during the middle of a plate appearance (e.g., stolen base): "A pitcher will be permitted to notify the umpire that he is pitching from the Windup Position within an at-bat only in the event of (i) a substitution by the offensive team; or (ii) immediately upon the advancement of one or more runners (i.e., after one or more base runners advance but before the delivery of the next pitch)."
In this case, San Diego batter Dustin Harris' groundout with Fermin at second base allowed the baserunner to advance to third. Pitcher Ashcraft then immediately notified umpires of his intent to pitch out of Windup while standing in Set prior to Tatis' at-bat. Ashcraft just didn't re-declare prior to the Cronenworth at-bat. Pirates manager Don Kelly briefly sought explanation from HP Umpire Merzel, but was not ejected. Managers are allowed to seek explanation but not permitted to argue such a balk.
Because the penalty for failing to declare is a balk (technically a start-stop balk in Set Position for starting the natural motion but failing to deliver the baseball on the first step [OBR 6.02(a)(1)]), there is no penalty for a pitcher who uses Hybrid without declaring it when the bases are empty.
Video as follows:
Video as follows:
