The new rule applies to first, second and third base.

One of the agenda items voted on by District Administrators at the 24th Little League International Congress in Houston earlier this year, was a regulation requiring that all league age 12-year-olds must be placed onto a Major Division team.

The measure was enacted, with 68 percent of District Administrators (delegates) voting to approve it.

The new Regulation V. 1. reads:

“The selection of players for the various teams within a league shall be in compliance with the Little League Draft Selection System as detailed in the Operating Manual. NOTE: All candidates who are league age twelve (12) must be drafted to a Little League Major Division team, or to a Junior League team. Exceptions can only be made with written approval from the District Administrator, and only if approved at the local league level by the Board of Directors and the parent of the candidate.”

The purpose of the new regulation is to ensure that local leagues are using the Minor Division as a training ground, and not keeping capable 12-year-olds from “moving up.” For those 12-year-olds who may lack the skills to play at the Major Division level, there is a process for allowing them to play in the Minor Division, provided certain conditions are met. (However, the prohibition on 12-year-olds pitching in the Minor Division remains.)

Recently, questions have been asked about putting this new regulation into effect. We have listed the answers below.

Question 1: If a league age 12-year-old does not tryout as required, is the league still required to place him/her within the Majors Division?

Answer: If a player/candidate does not attend 50 percent of the tryouts, the local league board of directors has two choices:

1. Accept the player’s excuse for missing the tryout(s) and make the player eligible for selection to a Major Division team, or,
2. Decline the excuse and the candidate would not be eligible for participation in any division within the league for that entire season. Little League would encourage leagues to be lenient in accepting 12-year-olds’ excuses in an attempt to provide as many opportunities as possible.

Question 2: Based on the response above, how do local leagues deal with late registrants who are league age 12?

Answer: A late registrant would be assigned to a Major Division team if the local league board of directors chooses to accommodate him/her. If this results in an unequal number of players on the Major Division rosters, the league can follow procedures for requesting a waiver from the Charter Committee to allow it. However, if the league and parents determine that the player’s skill level would dictate that he/she should be assigned to the Minor Division, they would go through the process of obtaining a waiver from the District Administrator as noted in the regulation.

Question 3: Who will review requests for 12-year-olds to be retained in the Minor Division?

Answer: The parent(s) or legal guardian (as assigned by a court of jurisdiction) of the player in question, in conjunction with the local league board of directors, must submit a request to the District Administrator for final approval. As noted in the new regulation, final authority on requests of this nature rests with the District Administrator.

Question 4: Will there be a form for the parents to complete and submit to leagues and District Administrators if they are requesting that their child not be placed in the Majors Division, so that this process can be expedited?

Answer: Yes. The form is now available in PDF format at http://www.littleleague.org/media/12yrold_waiver.pdf. This simple form allows the league and District Administrator to maintain records of these approvals.

Question 5: Is there any recourse if a league age 12-year-old is drafted, practices, and even participates in Major Division games – and then the player, parents, and/or league realize the player is not capable of playing in that division?

Answer: Little League encourages local leagues to conduct a thorough assessment of each player at tryouts to avoid this situation. In cases where a player’s assessment causes concern about participation in the Major Division, league officials should review the assessment with the parents to identify what is in the best interest of the child. However, when situations above arise, these matters should be forwarded to the District Administrator for a final decision.

Question 6: If the player is drafted onto a Major Division team, what if the parent’s assessment and the manager’s assessment of a player differ?

Answer: If the parent’s assessment is that the player should be moved to the Minor Division, but the manager believes the player should remain in the Major Division, the local league board of directors has two choices:

1. Support the parent’s assessment and forward the request to the District Administrator for final approval.
2. Support the manager’s assessment and inform the parents that the player will remain on the Major Division roster. (The parent may then choose to allow the player to continue in the Major Division, or remove the child from the league.)

If the manager of the Major Division team believes that the player should be moved to the Minor Division, the local league board of directors needs to review the assessment with the parents. If the parents do not support the assessment, the player must remain in the Major Division.

Question 7: Is the limit of eight league age 12-year-olds per team going to increase?

Answer: Not at this time. The intent of this rule change is NOT to create a Major Division that is essentially made of all league age 12-year-olds. Little League International conducted a survey of all District Administrators via e-mail to see if this limit should be eliminated. The result showed that 60 percent of DAs were in favor of it. But because the number falls short of the two-thirds required to make a change at the International Congress, the limit will remain and Little League will monitor the rule for adjustments in 2009 and beyond. (As with any rule or regulation, the local league board of directors may request a waiver using the method described in the rulebooks under “Charter Committee/Waivers of Rules and Regulations.)

Question 8: Is the 10-team limit in the Major Division going to remain for 2008?

Answer: Yes. However, if a local league has more than 10 Major Division teams, it does not automatically mean the league must split, or to field two tournament teams in that division. The 10-team limit will be considered, along with population, player enrollment in all divisions, competing programs and other factors to determine when or if a league must split into two leagues or divisions. With almost all 12-year-olds playing in the Major Division, the Charter Committee will have a more accurate gauge of the size and scope of the league through team registration.

Question 9: Could a local league only accept those 12-year-olds it believes are capable of playing in the Major Division, and “cut” the rest to avoid processing these waivers?

Answer: Absolutely not. That would be completely contrary to the policies and goals of Little League. Any child who is eligible by age and residence to play in the league should be given that opportunity, without regard to playing ability. A league in which children are completely turned away because of playing ability is doing a disservice to those children, their families, and their community.

Question 10: Could a District Administrator have a policy to refuse to sign any waivers allowing a 12-year-old to play in the Minors?

Answer: No. The District Administrator must take each case on its own merits and make what he/she believes to be a fair judgment each and every time.

Question 11: Could our league create two divisions within the Major Division (in effect a “Major A” and a “Major B” division), and place the lesser-skilled 12-year-olds in the “Major B” division?

Answer: No. There can be only one group of teams classified as “Majors” in any chartered local Little League, and all league age 12-year-olds must be placed into that division, subject to the provisions of this new regulation. (All teams within the Major Division of a local Little League must play a common schedule in which each team plays all other teams in that division.)

Following up on the ground breaking first season in which a mandatory pitch count was used in all baseball divisions of Little League, the rules and regulations for 2008 have been refined, it was announced today at Little League International.

After two years of testing involving hundreds of local programs, Little League unveiled an initiative in 2007 that used the actual number of pitches delivered, rather than innings pitched, to determine eligibility for the next time a player can pitch. The number of pitches permitted, and the amount of rest required, depends on the age of the player.

Little League International has urged all youth baseball programs to adopt a pitch count in order to protect young pitching arms from rising overuse injuries. However, to date, Little League is the only national youth baseball organization to adopt this method. USA Baseball, the governing body for baseball in the U.S., recommends using pitch counts as well.

“The Little League pitch count program has been an unqualified success, as districts and local leagues understood and embraced the important reasons for the change,” Patrick Wilson, vice president of operations for Little League International, said. “Our volunteers have done outstanding work in putting the regulation into effect.”

Little League International also is grateful for the continued support of Dr. James Andrews and Dr. Glenn Fleisig, who contributed invaluable data and advice in crafting the Pitch Count Pilot Program in 2005-’06, as well as the regulations and tournament rules in 2007. Dr. Andrews is the chairman and medical director for the American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI) in Birmingham, Ala., and Dr. Fleisig is the research director at ASMI. They are the world’s foremost authorities on the subject of pitching-related injuries.

As noted when the pitch count was first introduced, the regular season pitching regulations and tournament pitching rules were expected to evolve as time progressed. The ASMI, led by Dr. Andrews and Dr. Fleisig, have worked closely with Little League International to continue the development of this initiative.

“The first year of using pitch counts in Little League Baseball appears to be a success at all levels, and we are pleased that Little League continues to refine the program,” said Dr. Andrews and Dr. Fleisig in a joint statement from the ASMI. “The changes for the 2008 season reflect the leadership position Little League has taken to protect young pitching arms, and we wholeheartedly endorse these actions.”

Here are the significant enhancements for the 2008 season for all divisions of baseball:

Regular Season Pitching Regulations

• A pitch limit for pitchers league age 7-8 has been added, with a maximum of 50 pitches per day. Previously, the limit for these ages was the same as for pitchers who were league age 9-10.

• A provision has been added that prohibits a player who has been removed as a pitcher in a game from playing the position of catcher for the remainder of that day. This was a recommendation of Dr. Andrews and Dr. Fleisig, and is intended to further prevent overuse injuries. The position of catcher, according to Dr. Andrews and Dr. Fleisig, has the second-most overuse injuries, which can be acerbated by moving from pitcher to catcher in the same day. (However, moving from pitcher to any of the other seven positions, or from catcher to pitcher, apparently does not cause the same concerns.)

• Pitchers league age 16 and under who deliver 41 or more pitches in a game must also have a game of rest, in addition to the number of days rest prescribed. Pitchers league age 17-18 who deliver 51 or more pitches in a game must also have a game of rest, in addition to the number of days rest prescribed. This enhancement is designed to help ensure that teams develop more pitchers, and to help ensure that scheduling anomalies do not result in undue advantages for some teams.

• The “automatic” intentional walk was removed. If a pitcher wishes to intentionally walk a batter, he/she must do so by pitching four pitches intentionally outside the strike zone that are not struck at by the batter, and are called “balls” by the umpire. All such pitches will count in determining that pitcher’s pitch count.

The complete regular season pitching regulation for baseball may be found at: http://www.littleleague.org/media/RS_Pitching_Regulation_Changes_Baseball_2008.pdf

Tournament Pitching Rules

• As noted above in the regular season regulations, a provision has been added that prohibits a player who has been removed as a pitcher in a game from playing the position of catcher for the remainder of that day.

• Pitchers league age 16 and under (except those 16-year-olds playing in Big League) who deliver 21 or more pitches in a game must also have a game of rest, in addition to the number of days rest prescribed. Big League Division pitchers league age 16-18 who deliver 36 or more pitches in a game must also have a game of rest, in addition to the number of days rest prescribed.

• A rule allowing the pitcher of record in a suspended game to continue pitching on a subsequent day in that game has been added. However, in the case of a game resumed more than one day after the suspended game, the number pitches delivered in a game in between those dates will also be used to determine eligibility.

• Failure by the manager to remove a pitcher before that pitcher becomes ineligible will result in the suspension of the manager for the next two tournament games, with further penalties possible if the Tournament Committee deems that the infraction merits it. (This removes the automatic forfeiture penalty. However, the Tournament Committee could impose a forfeit if the situation warrants it.)

• The “automatic” intentional walk was removed, as noted in the regular season regulation above.

The complete tournament pitching rule for baseball may be found at: http://www.littleleague.org/media/T_Pitching_Rule_Changes_Baseball_2008.pdf

“Little League also continues to receive advice from volunteers regarding breaking balls,” Mr. Wilson said. “All of the evidence so far points to overuse at the main reason for pitching-related injuries. However, we continue to monitor this situation, and we are in fact taking part in a multi-year scientific study that we hope will provide clear direction on this issue. Once that study is complete, Little League will take the appropriate measures.”