AAA Minor Division Local Rules
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AAA Minor Division Local Rules The following is a summary of some of the rules in the AAA Minors Division in Maidu Little League Baseball. A full explanation of all the rules can be found in the Official Regulations and Playing Rules of Little League Baseball. 1) AAA Division teams are created by use of the Maidu Little League draft procedure. Players must attend tryouts and managers will select players using the approved draft procedure. Prior to the draft the Maidu Board of Directors will determine the draft pool. A player who is lost for the entire season during the season, either by being pulled up to Majors or due to injury or other reason, will be replaced from the AA division if eligible players meet AAA criteria, following the same guidelines as outlined for the Major division in the Little League rulebook. Player’s league age 8, 9, 10, 11 will be eligible for participation in the AAA division. (All 10 and 11-year-old players who are not selected by a Major division team must be selected on an AAA team. A player’s league age is determined by the current Little League Age Chart. 2) There will be a regular season schedule of from 16 to 24 total games in the AAA Division. Depending on the number of Maidu teams from year to year, the attempt will be made to have each Maidu team play each other Maidu team four times during the season. When possible, other games will be played in an interlock schedule with teams from other leagues (as determined by the Board of Directors). There will typically be minimum two games per week. Byes will be determined based on the amount of teams during the season. 3) There will be a postseason tournament to determine a league champion. The tournament will be seeded based on regular season records. All teams will participate in the postseason tournament. Seeding tiebreakers will be determined as follows: a. Head to head record against each other during second 2/3rd games (no matter how many teams are tied) I. Team with no wins head to head is eliminated. II. Head to head with remaining teams. b. Runs against for all second 2/3rd of the season games. c. Runs against head to head during second 2/3rd of the season games. d. Coin flip If there is an “odd” number of teams, the top seeded teams will receive a bye. 4) Games are six (6) innings long. If a game is shortened for weather or darkness etc. it is a regulation game if 4 innings have been completed, or if the home team is ahead after 3 and ½ innings. If a game is called before it has become a regulation game and 1 or more innings have been played, it shall be resumed exactly where it left off. Page | 1 AAA Minor Division (MLL 2016) AAA Minor Division Local Rules 5) Time Limit: For all games during the regular season no new inning may begin after 1 hr 50 minutes from the first pitch. There is no “hard stop” rule. A new inning begins when the last out is recorded in the prior inning. All postseason tournament games will be 6 innings with no time limit requirement. It is the responsibility of managers and umpires to limit the amount of time spent between innings. This should be limited to 90 seconds per team or 6 pitches whichever comes first. The umpire and managers should monitor times together. 6) Official score will be kept for the whole season. (This is to train scorekeepers for the first 1/3rd of the season) and standings will be maintained for the AAA division for the last 2/3rds part of the season, with the home team responsible for supplying the official scorekeeper. The official score record must contain an accurate pitch count for each pitcher to aid in the official tracking of pitching eligibility. All pitching results must be submitted after the game to the player agent to be tracked by the managers. 7) AAA is a developmental league that is designed to develop the kids at a level higher than AA and Farm. As part of the developmental process, understanding as much about the game and how to play each position is what each manager and coach (s) should try to teach each player. Each manager or coach (s) should play all players in as many different positions (Keeping Safety in Mind) in games during the season and should include pitchers. Standings for the first 1/3rd part of the season will not be kept. The number of games as defined as the “first 1/3rd part of the season” will be determined by the player agent. It is important to still keep the score and keep pitch count to develop scorekeepers and maintain pitch count for the entire season. Once the defined second 2/3rds part of the season starts, more competitive play will commence and standings will be kept to determine playoffs at the end of the season. 8) To help develop new pitchers early in the season no pitcher may pitch in consecutive games during the “first 1/3 part of the season” of the season. Managers are encouraged to pitch every player. 9) The Mercy rule (Section 4.10e of the Official Regulations and Playing Rules of Little League Baseball) will not be utilized. 10) Bunting, and Stealing will be allowed for the entire season. 11) An inning will end when three outs are recorded, or when 5 runs have been scored by the team at bat. If the team that is hitting reaches five runs before three outs are recorded, it will be announced to the defensive team and the inning will end. The Five run rule will not apply in the sixth inning of the game. 12) A normal baseball defense with 9 players is used, but the entire roster hits (the same continuous batting order stays in place throughout the entire game). A late arrival goes to the end of the batting order. The strike zone is expanded to promote aggressive hitting and to help develop pitcher confidence. A game is considered official if each team has at least 8 players. If either team is unable to Page | 2 AAA Minor Division (MLL 2016) AAA Minor Division Local Rules start a game with at least 8 players the game becomes a forfeit in favor of the team with at least 8 players. NOTE: In case of forfeiture, managers will divide into equal teams and play a scrimmage. 13) All players must play a minimum of one-half of their teams’ defensive innings per game, with random substitution permitted at all defensive positions with the exception of pitcher. The pitcher, once removed from the mound, may not return to pitch in the same game. All players will play one infield and one outfield position per game, with the emphasis being on the player getting to play infield each game. 14) Pitching eligibility will be managed according to the rules outlined in the Little League rulebook. Catchers must wear a mask with throat protector, and catchers helmet during practice, pitcher warm-up and games. Coaches may not warm up pitchers. All players playing catch with or warming up the pitcher must have a catcher’s helmet on also! a. A pitcher can return to the position of Catcher in the same game unless they deliver 41 or more pitches in the game. b. A player who has played the position of catcher in four or more innings in a game, is not eligible to pitch on that calendar day. c. Pitchers must adhere to the following rest requirements: i. If a player pitches 66 or more pitches in a day, four (4) calendar days of rest must be observed. ii. If a player pitches 51-65 more pitches in a day, three (3) calendar days of rest must be observed. iii. If a player pitches 36-50 pitches in a day, two (2) calendar days of rest must be observed. iv. If a player pitches 21-35 pitches in a day, one (1) calendar days of rest must be observed. v. If a player pitches 1-20 pitches in a day, no (0) calendar day of rest is required. 15) Pitchers are not allowed to wear sweatbands or jewelry while pitching, nor are the allowed to wear white sleeves. Once a player is removed from the game as a pitcher, they may not pitch again in that game. Catchers must wear a mask with throat protector, and catchers helmet during practice, pitcher warm-up and games 16) The Home team occupies the 3rd base dugout, and the Scorekeeper of the Home team will keep the Official scorebook. No one except eligible players in uniform, managers and no more than two coaches shall occupy the bench or dugout area. For safety reasons bat boys and batgirls are not permitted. The batter, all base runners and players acting as coaches, must wear helmets at all times. Page | 3 AAA Minor Division (MLL 2016) AAA Minor Division Local Rules 17) There will be no on-deck circle. Players may not take warm-up swings either inside or outside the dugout. No player should have a bat in hand in or out of the dugout! There shall be no headfirst sliding to a base a runner is attempting to reach. A player is allowed to slide headfirst back to the base he already legally gained possession of. Example: A runner on first may not slide head first into second on a ground ball.