WBSL AAA & Majors Baseball Division Charter and Rules

Revision History

Version / Revision Date / Prepared By / Revision Details
0.0 / April 1st, 2015 / Jamie Manti / FIRST DRAFT
1.0 / May22nd, 2015 / Jamie Manti / Updated

Document Purpose

This document is intended to provide details on what the AAA and Majors Baseball divisions are and how they are structured. It should be reviewed each year by the AAA and MajorsBaseballDirectorsas well as the individuals who are managing and coaching AAA and Majors Baseball. Any WBSL Board members that are interested may also participate in the review, with the annual goal to improve upon any lessons learned.

Charter

Eligibility to play WBSL AAA and Majors Baseball is based upon age - players that are league age 9, 10, 11, and 12 years old are eligible to participate in AAA and Majors baseball. AAA Baseballis part of the recreation season and will be scheduled accordingly with the league master schedule.

League Structure and Player Selection

The amount of teams for AAA Baseballwill depend on the number or players who register. As a general rule, the roster size should not exceed 12 players per team. The philosophy behind the annual player placement for Boys Majors and AAA Divisions of play is to formulate teams with an equal distribution of talent, with the intent of enhancing the overall competitiveness of the league throughout the regular season and playoffs. With this objective in mind, a “blind draft” format will be utilized at these divisions as follows:

All players will participate in a player evaluation process, with at least 2 independent evaluators assessing the boys skill level in throwing, hitting, and fielding at a minimum. The scores will be averaged and used to facilitate an equitable distribution of player abilities amongst the teams

The Division Director and Player Agent will be responsible for conducting the player placement activities for their respective divisions. All division managers will work together to formulate teams with an equal distribution of talent using personal knowledge of the players, the completed evaluation results from player evaluations, participation in prior season’s “Post Season” teams, etc.

All player placements must be conducted after player evaluations have occurred, and concluded prior to the deadline for submission of player names/rosters to Little League, typically around the first of April. Majors League Placement must be held first, followed by AAA division placement, without exception

Once a consensus has been reached among the coaches that the distribution of talent across all of the teams in the division is even, a blind-random drawing will be held to assign a Manager to each team. At that time, rosters will be finalized by reassigning the coaches’ son(s) or daughter(s) to their parent’s team. The reassignment of other players resulting from the reassignment of the coach’s son(s) or daughter(s) must be consistent with the overall objectives of the blind draft process.

With the exception of reassignments associated with the coaches’ son(s) or daughter(s) identified above, all player placements are final. There will be no trades unless there are extenuating circumstances. Such circumstances, and any subsequent trades, must be approved by the Division Director and Player Agent.

Special consideration should be given to evenly dividing players with proven skills in specialty areas such as pitching and catching. In addition, the Division Director and Player Agent should ensure that consideration is given to players associated with siblings, sponsorships and potential Manager volunteers when and if this is possible. No more than (1) Manager and (2) Assistants may be assigned to any team, nor be on the field of play during a game.

Major League Division Managers are to consider players who are league age 10, 11, or 12. All league age 11 & 12 year old players who played in the Major League Division in the previous season should be placed on Major League Division teams for the current season. (Special circumstances will be considered, and Parent Approval Overrides)

The Major League Division Director will make sure the rosters are accurate and inform Managers that the rosters are “Final”. After the Division Director gives the go-ahead, Parents of players must be notified by their coaches of team assignments ASAP to allow the name to be placed back into the draft, if the parent chooses to have the child play down. No Manager/Coach shall notified players or parents of team placement until the Division Manager gives notice that rosters are “Final”.

Boys AAA Division Managers are to consider remaining players who are league age 10, 11, or 12 who were not selected for the Major League Division. Consideration for league age 9 players may be given on a case by case basis with approval from the Player Agent and Division Director when/if roster spots are available.

The Boys AAA player placement cannot be held until the Major League Division player placement is completed. As in the Majors Draft: No Manager/Coach shall notified players or parents of team placement until the Division Manager gives notice that rosters are “Final”.

Rosters for Majors and AAA divisions should be entered by the Division Directors on the league website upon the successful completion of the blind drafts and the finalization of the team rosters.

Fields

AAA ball will play its games on Griffin A, and Majors will play its games on Griffin B

Rules

This division is generally governed by the rules of Little League. The below are WBSL exceptions or reminders.

  1. General Game Play
  2. All games are scheduled for 6 innings
  3. No inning will be started after 8:00pm. Coaches will end earlier if darkness causes safety concerns
  4. Half innings end after 3 outs are recorded or 5 runs have been scored. The exception to this is the last inning of the game. Teams are allowed to play until 3 outs are recorded or until the winning run is scored in the bottom of the inning, whichever comes first.
  5. All players should play at least two (2) innings in the field by the end of the 4th inning

2. Pitching

2.1All games are player-pitch (Little League Pitching Regulations apply – See Below)

2.2Once a pitcher is removed from the game he cannot return to pitch later in the game.

2.3Any pitcher who hits 3 batters in a game must be replaced and can no longer pitch in that game.

2.4The pitching rubber will be forty-six (46) feet from home plate.

Little League Pitching Regulations

Pitchers of league age 11 and 12 are limited to 85 pitches in a day; pitchers aged 9 and 10 are restricted to 75 pitches in a day; a pitcher aged 8 or younger may pitch no more than 50 pitches in a day. If the pitcher reaches the limit while facing a batter, the pitcher may continue pitching until that batter is retired or becomes a runner, or the inning ends, whichever comes first, and then must be removed.

A pitcher must observe specific rest periods between pitching appearances, based on the number of pitches thrown the last day the pitcher pitched. A day’s rest is a calendar day in which the pitcher does not pitch, rather than a 24-hour period; a pitcher who throws over 20 pitches Tuesday may not pitch at any time on Wednesday. Any time a pitcher is eligible to pitch based on the observance of the stated rest period, the pitcher may pitch to the stated limit.

Effective with the 2010 season (in both regular season and tournament play), when a pitcher throws:

  • 66 or more pitches = 4 days’ rest are required
  • 51 to 65 pitches = 3 days’ rest are required
  • 36 to 50 pitches = 2 days’ rest are required
  • 21 to 35 pitches = 1 day’s rest is required
  • 1 to 20 pitches = the pitcher may pitch the next day
  1. Batting
  2. All players on the roster will be in the batting order every game. This is called “roster batting.”
  3. Any player hit by a pitched ball will be awarded first base. Coaches do not have the discretion to have their player remain at bat.
  4. We will not call a batter out due to the “infield fly rule.”
  5. Bunting is allowed
  6. Batters cannot square to bunt and then pull back to take a swing at a pitch. This is for player safety as charging fielders are exposed to potential line drives at a very short distance. The umpire will give the team a warning and if this occurs a second time the batter is called out.
  1. Base Running
  2. Stealing is allowed.
  3. Runners can run only as/after the ball crosses home plate.
  4. Runners may advance if a pitcher drops a throw from the catcher or the throw back to the pitcher is wild.
  5. Runners advance 1 base on any over throw that goes out of play.
  6. Runners must slide into bases or avoid collisions on close plays.
  7. Any player sliding head first shall be called out, except when diving back to a base.
  8. A runner shall be called out when he does not slide or attempt to get around a fielder at any base, when the fielder has the ball and is waiting to make a tag, or the throw is on its way (umpire’s judgement controls) and the fielder is about to catch the ball for the purpose of making the tag.
  1. Umpires
  2. A Patched Umpirewill be assigned by the WBSL Umpire in Chief.
  3. The strike-zone shall be one balls-width on each side of the plate AND from the bottom of the knees to the chest.
  4. The home plate umpire has the final say on the base calls and strike count.
  1. Playoffs (AAA)
  2. Playoffs will be a double elimination tournament
  3. Playoffs pairings will be completely random because WBSL has voted no standings are to be kept.
  4. If we have a 6 team league, 2 teams will be drawn at random and awarded first round byes
  5. First round matchups will be drawn from a hat.