Baseball Level Info - Spring

Age Determination:  All players are required to register for a Division as determined by their birth date. The first step in registering your child for the 2024 Spring season is to determine their “Little League Age”. Please only register for the correct division. Registrations are reviewed and players are moved to the correct division when errors are found.  Find your child's little league age here (Note: The dates for baseball and softball are different, but each determines the division in which your Little Leaguer will play this season.)

Recognizing that many families are in a situation where finances could be an issue, please visit our Financial Assistance page.

Other considerations:     

• For baseball players “Little League Age” 8 years and under, Little League International rules direct that we place players in a division based upon their “Little League Age”, not based upon their current grade school level.  Players “Little League Age” 8 years and under must register in the correct division based upon age. 
• All “Little League Age” baseball players 9 years and over must attend evaluations and these players will be placed in a division based upon their skill level. 

What is the correct level of play for my child? Below are guidelines and information about each level.

 NOTE: Practice times are determined by field availability with the city. You will not know when your team practices until teams are assigned. We currently have vacant T-ball and A ball coordinator positions - volunteering for these positions is the best way to get your preferred times, fields, and teams!

Tee ball Program: 5 and 6 year-olds born between Sept 2017 and Aug 2019.  Must be in pre-k, K, or 1st, or born before Sept 1, 2019  

o    What to expect: Tee ball designed to help begin the long journey of learning baseball and softball fundamentals as well as some rules and how the game is played. Players at this level start with no skills. The ball is hit off a tee. Coaches are allowed on the field of play to assist the kids. Towards the end of the season, coaches may agree to pitch softly to the kids, using the tee as a backup. Fundamentals and safety are stressed. There is no such thing as too many parent "assistant" coaches at this age level. Generally, almost all kids are ready to move on after one year of playing. The most important requirement of this level is that the parents of these players become involved in providing Little League opportunities to their players. Note: No player plays more than one season of tee ball except 4-year old players entering the league early (Early entry requires permission from the VP (vptball@swpll.org)

o    Time commitment: One practice a week  on a weeknight and one game a week. Practices and game schedules are determined on field availability with the city.  

o    Cost: Registration: $125, includes hat

o    Team assignment: Teams are formed by grouping players that have common backgrounds.  This is often done by school and/or player request to the best of our ability.  Registration order is also used to direct a player to a team.

o    Equipment: Glove and gray pants required. This year, we are having players order their jersey directly through Gear UP. Ordering information will be shared once teams and team colors are set.  Cleats are recommended but not required. Players must wear helmets at bat. League provides each team a helmet but many people chose to provide their own. Bats are provided by the league but many players purchase their own. 

Baseball (mostly boys but girls are welcome): 

A Baseball (Coach Pitch): 6 and 7 olds born between Sept 2016 and Aug 2018 (generally first graders or kids who have played a year of tee ball)

o    What to expect: This is instructional baseball and game scores are not recorded. At this level coaches pitch to their own team using safety balls, not hard balls. The purpose of the division is to teach young children how to follow directions and the basic fundamentals of hitting and fielding. Players at this level understand what an 'out' is, can consistently throw/catch ~20 ft, consistently hit a slow coach pitch Please note: Players can only play one year in A baseball. 

o    Time commitment: One practice a week on a weeknight and two games a week (one game on a weeknight, one on Saturday). Practices and game schedules are determined on field availability with the city. 

o    Cost: Registration: $175, includes hat 

o    Team assignment: Teams are formed by grouping players that have common backgrounds.  This is often done by school and/or player request to the best of our ability.  Registration order is also used to direct a player to a team

o    Equipment: Glove and gray pants required. This year, we are having players order their jersey directly through Gear UP. Ordering information will be shared once teams and team colors are set.  Cleats are recommended but not required. Players must wear helmets at bat. League provides each team a helmet but many people chose to provide their own. Bats are provided by the league but many players purchase their own. 

AA Baseball: (Kid & Coach Pitch) 7 and 8 year olds born between Sept 2015 and Aug 2017 (generally second graders or kids who have played one year of A baseball)

o    What to expect: In AA Baseball there is a mixture of coach pitch and player pitch. Scores and are recorded. The emphasis is on fundamental skills, including pitching, and developing catchers. Typically the season begins with coach pitch and transitions to player pitch as the season progresses. Players at this level understand balls and strikes, consistently throw/catch ~45 ft, and can avoid a ball thrown at them. 

o    Time commitment: One practice a week on a weeknight and two games a week (one game on a weeknight, one on Saturday). Practices and game schedules are determined on field availability with the city. 

o    Cost: Registration: $175, includes hat

o    Team assignment: Teams are formed by grouping players that have common backgrounds.  This is often done by school and/or player request to the best of our ability.  Registration order is also used to direct a player to a team

o    Equipment: Glove, cup, and gray pants required. This year, we are having players order their jersey directly through Gear UP. Ordering information will be shared once teams and team colors are set.  Cleats are recommended but not required. Players must wear helmets at bat. League provides each team a helmet but many people chose to provide their own. Bats are provided by the league but many players purchase their own.

Upper Division Baseball International League, AAA and Majors – Little League Age 9 to 12

All “Little League Age” baseball players 9 years and over must attend evaluations and these players will be placed in a division based upon their skill level. 

These are two competitive levels and the primary goal of player placement is to create parity among the teams at each level.  Teams are formed through a well-defined selection process where Managers take turns choosing players from a pool of players determined by the Player Agent.  There is no requirement that Managers take coach requests, friend requests or other special requests into consideration when selecting players.  Please note, through-out the season, players may be "called-up" to a higher level in the event of a vacancy in a team roster. 

For all upper levels: 

• Cost: Registration: $240, includes hat
•  Equipment: Glove, cup, and gray pants required. Cleats are highly recommended but not required. This year, we are having players order their jersey directly through Gear UP. Ordering information will be shared once teams and team colors are set.  Players must wear helmets at bat. League provides each team a helmet but many people chose to provide their own.  Bats used in league play must have the USA baseball sticker, the league provides a bat to every team but many players purchase their own.    
• Time commitment: Two practices a week on weeknights and two games a week (one game on a weeknight, one on Saturday). Practices and game schedules are determined on field availability with the city.

AAA baseball (Little League age 9-10) (Born between Sept 2013 and Aug 2015)

Eight year-olds who played AA are eligible for AAA by petition only and they must attend evaluations.  This is a competitive level where scores and team records are recorded. This level follows the general rules of baseball. Players pitch the entire game with official umpires (called balls and strikes with walks) and catcher development is encouraged with stealing and the ability to advance bases on wild pitches. The emphasis is on developing skills and sportsmanship. Players at this level understand strategy and know their job on each defensive play. They can consistently throw/catch ~60 ft, and can hit medium/fast pitch baseballs.

Majors Baseball: (Little League age 11-12) (Born between Sept 2011 and Aug 2013)

This is our most competitive level where scores and team records are recorded. This level strictly follows International Little League Rules, including no limits on runs per-inning and the dropped third strike rule. The primary focus of this level is to prepare the players to move to a regular (high school, college and professional) sized baseball field. Players at this level understand strategy and know their job on each defensive play. They can consistently throw/catch >60 ft, consistently field ground balls and catch fly balls, and can hit fast pitch baseballs. They understand the rules of baseball and can apply them their play.

50/70 Intermediate Sunday Baseball Little League Age 11-12 - Pending Player Interest

All Little League Age 11 and 12 year-olds playing Majors, are eligible to play 50/70 in addition to the Majors League.  This is the highest skill level of play offered by our league and provides a transition for players between the standard Little League field size (46-foot pitching distance and 60-foot base paths) and the Junior/Senior/Big League field size (60-foot, 6-inch pitching distance and 90-foot base paths). Games are 7 innings, runners are permitted to lead off bases, runners may attempt to steal at any time, and on-deck batters are allowed.

50/70 is not available every year, depending upon player interest. We are still in the process of gauging interest for 2022. Spots will be limited and we expect that not everyone who expresses an interest to play 50/70 will be assigned a team.   Due to the longer games and doubleheaders, 50/70 teams may be significantly larger than regular season Majors teams. We anticipate that not all the players will want to play double headers on Sundays and to accommodate this we may place up to 18 players on each team.  (Games are generally double headers on Sundays, which allows players ages 11 and 12 to participate on both a Majors team and a 50/70 team in the spring.) 

 Players will be placed on one of two teams based upon their evaluation score at evaluations.