Rule Differences / Field Sizes

Why are things different between ages, major and minors?  Isn’t it all baseball?

In a perfect world, our baseball kids would stay little, always play T-Ball with no score and no umpires, and worry most about the treat after the game instead of the  score and how many hits they had.  But, the kids change each and every year, so we choose to adapt our field size and rules to match their current skill level.

FIELD SIZE

At RYBA we’re asked many questions regarding decisions we make about game issues and one of the more common is about the field size for different ages.  I think it’s obvious that the younger the kids, the smaller the field should be.  The actual distances are usually discussed in “base to base” lengths.
     
We use 60 foot fields for grades K through 5th grade.  This is the most common field size for the youngest ages.  Softball teams also use this size. These are built with an intention of the outfield grass will usually start about 15-20 feet behind the bases.  As well, the pitching mound distance “fits” in these dimensions.  On a 60 foot field, the baseball pitching distance is usually 46-48 feet.  Softball teams use 43 feet distance from the mound to the plate.  The dual use of all these fields is why you usually see more than one pitching rubber on most of these smaller fields.
     
In 6th and 7th grade, the kids are getting bigger and stronger but they’re not ready to be on the “BIG” field yet, so we have an intermediate field size for them.  The bases are 75 feet apart.  The mounds can be between 52-54 feet from home plate.
     
In 8th grade and older we use the “BIG” size field which is 90 foot base paths and the mound to plate distance is 60 foot 6 inches.  Same as the pros.


LEAD-OFFS AND STEALING

“Leading off and stealing” is another set of questions we get quite a bit.  Prior to 4th grade, kids do not lead off or steal.  The first year that stealing is allowed is in the 4th grade majors in our house program.  Kids that play 10U or 9U traveling encounter this earlier in their experience.  However, all these levels have certain guidelines “when” a player can steal.  For all standard games & tournaments under grade 5, stealing is allowed, but leading off is not.  When they can leave the base to attempt a steal may vary.  However the national standard rule in 4th grade and in 10U travel is that “the player may not leave the base until the pitch crosses the plate.”  In 5th grade (11U) the standard changes most commonly to “you may leave the base when the ball leaves the pitchers hand”.  These  age differences are set  to provide training levels for runners, pitchers, and catchers as well as account for size differences of players.  We want to teach pitchers how to throw strikes first and over their first two years, teach them the differences between the wind up (full movement) versus the stretch position and how to hold runners on.  As well, catching arm strength increases in age, but young catchers have to arc the ball to second (usually) or bounce it there.  The fair advantage built into the game is to delay the runner.  With age, this delay becomes less and less necessary and eventually the regular rules of baseball come to fruition.


MAJORS VS. MINORS (HOUSE)
 
We also get many questions regarding the rule differences between house majors and minors.  The most common question is “why can’t kids in the minors lead off and steal”?  The question is quite valid and frankly this is the only real rules difference between these two programs.  Between 5-10 years ago, we looked at the issues in our house program, specifically the minors program.  Our games were lasting 2.5-3.5 hours and scores were in the 20’s on both sides.  We needed to find some competitive balance on how can we make this a better experience for kids and parents.  We have tried many different projects to make this happen.  One of the most common observations we had was that passed balls were a very common occurrence and every walk/hit/error turned into a triple at least.  Stealing and leading off were part of this as many errors were committed on steals or pick-offs when there weren’t passed balls, and pitchers were not held to the same standard of the “stretch” position and balks weren’t called because they occurred on every pitch.
     
To hopefully combat these issues, we went through a pilot year by eliminating moving up runners by stealing, passed balls, and not allowing leading off.  At first we received VERY harsh feedback, but at the end of the year our feedback from players and families is that this was a GREAT change.  Some may point that this limits development of skills and that is true, however, the rules change has helped develop some of the more fundamental skills of fielding such as double plays, force outs, and infield situations that are more in tune with real baseball.


TRAVEL VS. HOUSE

Lastly, we receive questions/feedback regarding our 3 levels of play; both “what level should my player play at”, and “why do we have so many different levels.”  These are very good questions.  There are those that believe that we don’t need traveling teams because “Rochester is so big, the kids should be able to have great competition between each other and not have to travel an hour just to play a game”.  Others feel that traveling allows kids to play teams from other cities and provides a unique, advanced set of competition that’s important for further and faster development.  Both beliefs have merit.  RYBA has felt that since the 1970’s traveling has provided great benefits to our programs at the high school level.  There is a desire for traveling competition by quite a few of our members, and we wish to develop what our players and families want.  Typically traveling requires a bit more summertime dedication and just more time playing and planning for baseball outings.  Typically it’s felt that development of skills occurs in traveling as these teams dedicate quite a bit of time to just practice.  The majors and minor divisional split is based in history, desire, and need as well here in Rochester.  Back when we had no traveling program, the opinion was that it would be best to split into pools based on talent.  The major and minor pools gives more kids adequate playing time, and competitive play at their skill level.   This system still exists today and a players level is determined by a tryout process.

If you have any further questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact me or any RYBA board member.

Dan Herold
RYBA Past-President

RYBA House League Tryout Process

Despite the recent retreat of spring back into winter, baseball season is about to begin.  We want to give a welcome to all the kids coming back and all the new kids that will be experiencing the fun of baseball for the first time.

The RYBA majors/minors program has been designed to help players develop skills and improve fundamentals by placing them on teams matching their skill level.

Participating on teams that can be competitive is fundamental in our process, and being successful as a goal. Past history reveals tryouts with approximately 45-55 players attending each of two time slots (90-110 players per day).

RYBA Tryout process has been consistent throughout the years for Grades 4th through 8th. Each year the House Committee considers registration numbers and past year's survey to determine the tryout process. Some years tryouts for a grade are all City.

The basic tryout is scheduled for 3 nights. Players will go through standard drills while being evaluated and scored by league commissioners. The Tryouts are designed to provide an equitable way for the Commissioners to make fair decisions on player team assignment. The assignment to Majors and Minors is based on the player’s evaluation score.

Players are expected to attend all 3 tryout nights. If a conflict arises, accommodations for missed sessions can be considered, please contact the Grade Commissioner or House Director ahead of time.

A player may be assigned to a different tryout region every year.  There usually are two equal timeslots per tryout day (session). Players choosing to not attend tryouts will be placed on minor league teams.

During the drills both offensive and defensive baseball skills are being evaluated.

Evaluations include; looking at what differentiates kids with similar abilities and they include speed, attitude/hustle, and pitching potential. 

·         Fielding/Throwing – The technical form and success rate are categorized by observing both grounders and fly balls. Throwing accuracy, mechanics, and arm strength are also a evaluated.

·         Hitting – The technical form and success of both the players ability to make contact and power generated by the players swing.

·         Pitching – Assessment includes pitching potential. Also used to equally divide teams during selection. Evaluation includes mechanics, accuracy and velocity.

·         Attitude – An important part of the assessment, especially for players close on decisions/selections. This includes listening skills, respectfulness, and player hustle. 

·         Speed/Baserunning –Based on potential base running capability

Evaluation Tryout Day 1

At the first tryout session, there will be 3 stations where specific skills are evaluated. Players rotate stations as a group about every 30 minutes based on the number of participants.

Evaluation Tryout Day 2

At the second tryout session, there will be 3 stations that specific skills are evaluated (usually different from day 1).  Players will rotate stations as a group about every 30 minutes based on the number of participants.

Final Evaluation Tryout Day 3

Final evaluations will be made resulting in the selection of approximately 36 players. The final tryouts will likely be scheduled for one hour.  Selected players will be taken through a series of drills and evaluations will be made.

Final Communication

The final assignment will be communicated immediately after the final evaluation via a sealed letter to each player.  This letter IS NOT to be opened by the player until they have left the field parking lot.

4th and 5th Grade Majors Team Assignments

The commissioners will assign teams based first on, parity for the league, then by school, and then by neighborhood. The coaches will be notified of the team assignments and players will be notified. Practice will begin soon after.

6th and 7th Grade Majors Team assignments

The head coaches selected for the Majors teams will assemble for a draft to determine the teams. Soon after the draft, the coaches notify the players they selected, and practice will be scheduled.

8th and 9th Grade Team assignments

The head coaches selected for the teams will assemble for a draft to determine the teams.   The players will be notified of team assignments as soon as they are completed.

Minors Team Assignments

The Registrar and Commissioners assign players to the teams. The Coaches notify players of their team assignments as soon as they are known.

Tom Jahns - House Programs Director

trjahns53@gmail.com

Social Media

Rochester Youth Baseball Association is using social media to help all who are interested in following our organization, our teams and our participants.  We encourage you to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and through our blog. We also want to hear from you if you have suggestions for other social media we could use to keep you connected with RYBA. 

Twitter

http://www.twitter.com/rybamn  

Our username is @rybamn.  If you are a Twitter user, you could just search for us in the search bar at the top of the page.  Follow us!

We will be implementing a new use of Twitter this season to allow you and any of your family or friends to follow your son’s team!  Each team that is part of RYBA this season, whether a team from the house league or a travel team, will be assigned a team hashtag to use when posting a tweet on Twitter so that anyone who follows the hashtag can also follow the latest updates about your team.  Coaches will be assigned a team hashtag along with their team player assignments this spring.  If your coach uses Twitter, he or she will send you the appropriate Twitter hashtag.  The commissioner for each grade will also have a list of hashtags associated with each team if your son’s coach does not use Twitter. 

RYBA coaches who do not use Twitter will be encouraged to seek out a team parent who can be responsible for posting tweets for the benefit of the players, parents, family and friends. 

You can contact Aaron Rindflesch, RYBA’s co-director of social media, if you have questions about our Twitter account or if you want to follow any team-associated hashtag.  Our organization’s hashtag is #rybamn. 

Facebook

RYBA has operated a Facebook site for several years.  Like us on Facebook!  Our general page can be found at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rochester-Youth-Baseball-Association-RYBA/154889614528591?ref=ts .  The RYBA Traveling page is at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rochester-Traveling-Baseball-RYBA/125677647319 . 

Blog

If you are reading this, you know that we also have a blog.  It is available at http://rybamn.blogspot.com.  In addition to our regular blog posts this offseason, we may continue to post relevant content during the season.  A link to the blog is always available on our web site, too.  http://www.rybamn.com. 

Other Social Media

At RYBA we would like to use any social media that will reach our community.  If you have suggestions for other uses of social media or other applications (Google Plus, Pinterest, etc.), please feel free to contact either of the co-directors of social media below.

RYBA Social Media Committee

Aaron Rindflesch

arindflesch@gmail.com

Craig Brown

kanolatwo@gmail.com

Chris Powell

powellsolutions@gmail.com

Fields, Batting Cages, and Restrooms

We received many comments about the fields, restrooms and other facilities used by the Rochester Youth Baseball program.  This week we will attempt to give everyone more insight into these areas.

NEW BATTING CAGES FOR 2014!

The big news is that we received approval by the state to build an additional equipment shed and a set of covered batting cages at the RBC complex.  We hope to have this area ready for our opening day in May 2014.  The cost of the building and new cages will be completely funded by RYBA.  This is an example of how we are using your fees to continuously make improvements to the program.

FIELD MAINTENANCE

RYBA does not own any of the fields used for our program.  All the fields are owned by either the City of Rochester, School District 535, or the State of Minnesota.  The city is in charge of maintenance at the Park and Rec fields, and although we are allowed to do routine upkeep, there are strict rules that prohibit us from applying weed killers and pesticides or filling in low areas with dirt.  We do work closely with the Park and Recreation department to secure fields for use by our house and travel teams and we have first right to these fields on our assigned nights.  The fields at the Rochester Baseball Complex are owned by the State of Minnesota and are under the care of the Rochester Community College during the men’s baseball and women’s softball season.  Our RYBA staff does help maintain these fields and you will often find our field crew hard at work on these fields during the week, especially during tournament weekends.

PORTABLE RESTROOMS

We often receive questions and complaints about the lack of portable restrooms at the city and grade school fields.  This is especially common with kids involved in the K-3 program.  Please be aware that the timing of portable restroom placement for the summer is controlled by Park and Rec for City owned fields and by Rochester School District 535 for the public school fields. 535 will not allow placement of outdoor portable restrooms at any school until the school year has officially ended.  This is usually in the second week of June. Park and Rec controlled GAME fields have potties placed by the first week in May.  Unfortunately RYBA does not have any control over this policy. 

Our best recommendation for avoiding accidents by your little leaguer is for parents to make sure all players, especially the younger children, go to the restroom before coming out to games and practices.

If you have any additional questions, ideas or suggestions about these issues please contact an RYBA board member.

Mike Gozola

RYBA Director of Fields

gozola.mike@rochesterbaseball.net

The RYBA House League Program

The Rochester Youth Baseball Association's House Program provides kids with an opportunity to play baseball on fields within the city of  Rochester.  There is no travel outside of the city.

The House program consists of the Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade programs and the 4th, thru 8th/9th Grade programs. The main difference between the age levels is that K-3 has all skill levels within the program, but the 4th - 8/9th Grade programs include a Majors and a Minors division.  Placement in a division is determined prior to the start of the season with 2 - 3 days of tryouts and evaluations done by school grade.  This is done to attempt to create a safe, but competitive environment where players can enjoy the game with kids at a similar skill level.

TRYOUTS

The tryouts are evaluations on the fundamentals of fielding, catching, throwing, hitting, and base running.  During the tryouts, house league coaches may conduct the drills at each station, but the evaluations are done by traveling program coaches for impartiality.   After tryouts, each player's evaluation is entered into a spreadsheet. Players scoring above the median are placed on Majors teams, and players scoring below the median are placed on Minors teams, but ALL kids are placed on a team. We encourage all players to tryout. We do allow players to forgo the tryout evaluations, and they are placed on Minors teams. There will be a future blog regarding Tryouts where I plan to delve more into the details of House Program tryouts and evaluations.

PLAYERS/TEAMS/COACHES

Last year in all House Programs K-8th there were over 130 teams formed and more than 1,570 registered kids, played in 1,890 regular season games. We reached out  and select one Head Coach for each of those teams.  They in turn selected at least one or two assistant coaches. Wow! That number is fabulous.   In addition to the players and coaches, there are many more parents and families members involved in Rochester Baseball in various ways. Our Motto is "Youth Growing Through Baseball". Players having fun and along the way learning baseball fundamentals should be the goal of parents and coaches. We encourage this over winning games, and hope to instill this sentiment into everyone involved.

GAMES

During the regular season two weekday games are played in the evenings for all grades.  The games are played either Monday's and Wednesday's or Tuesday's and Thursday's depending on grade. Games begin in mid May running up to July 4th holiday with some time off for the Memorial and Independence day holidays.  Then a few more weeks of games in July. The seasons for Kindergarten and 1st grade are then completed.

TOURNAMENTS

For 2nd and 3rd Grade players, there will be an optional year end tournament around the first weekend in August.

Playoffs for 4th - 8th grade are held after regular season finishes. Generally starting on a Friday evening or Saturday morning, concluding with a championship game on Sunday afternoon.

The RYBA website is a great place to visit for updated information. Once the site is updated for 2014, there you will find Tryout Schedule, Grade Rules, Coach Training, Team Schedules, and later… Game Results. There is also an opportunity for each team to create their specific Team webpage with practice schedule, notes, team stats, and pictures.

Looking forward to successful 2014 Baseball Season.

Tom Jahns - House Programs Director

trjahns53@gmail.com

Code of Conduct

(Violations can be reported here: Anonymous Code of Conduct Violation Report )

Youth sports are a fun and exciting time for players, coaches, parents, family and friends.  It’s a time of learning for the athletes about competition, team play, socializing, hard work and how to make that pay off.  Baseball, as America’s pastime is the perfect sport to education young athletes about all of these.  From time to time, “heat of the battle” issues arise during competition, develop during practices, or just things don’t go right.  Tempers flare and normal people just don’t act normal.  For these times, RYBA has developed a Code of Conduct and a Compliance Committee to handle these issues.  The following link will direct you to these policies and I urge you to read it carefully.

http://assets.ngin.com/attachments/document/0022/3355/2011_RYBA_code_of_conduct_and_violations.pdf

RYBA code of behavior outlines the issues that can impact a game and a team.  We have expectations that all players, coaches, families, and visitors will follow these codes.  We cannot address every individual type of inappropriate behavior but we provide these rules as a guidepost.

Violations for breaking the RYBA code of conduct will be strictly enforced (outlined in the section).  Any ejection will immediately require that individual(s) to leave the premises if the offender fails to leave the grounds for any reason, the game will be forfeited to the non-offending team.  If the individuals still will not leave, law enforcement may need to be called.

Any ejections of any kind are reported by the umpire to RYBA.  RYBA will then convene the Compliance Committee to investigate, meet, and go over the incident with all individuals deemed involved in the issue.  The Compliance Committee will hand down the decision and meet with the offending party in the issuance of its decision.

A critical aspect of the Code of Conduct deals with “Respect for the game”.  RYBA takes this seriously and this applies to not only players, coaches and umpires but also applies to the spectators themselves. Please read these and we suggest that you talk over these with your player, as well as family.  Abide by these and please report any conduct you feel is in violation of these principles. 

Compliance Committee

                On our website, you will see not only the rules, but the sanctions as well.  These are handled by the Compliance Committee.  This committee is important to maintain an unbiased investigation and ruling should issues arise.  You can read the make-up of the committee and how investigations and decisions are made.  Remember, the committee will not involve any board member that may be considered “part of the situation”.

Summary:  RYBA takes this policy very seriously.  Unfortunately, we meet a number of times throughout the year for issues that arise. Most are handled easily and efficiently, some take more time.

One question that always comes up is “how do I report a violation of the Code of Conduct if an ejection doesn’t happen and I want to point out the violation?”  RYBA urges you to please call or email the grade commissioner involved immediately.  Their email contact is located on the RYBA website and included in this link below:

http://www.rybamn.com/page/show/262203-ryba-board-of-directors-and-committee-assignments

                There is a very good article that has circulated around baseball lately.  It is from Mike Matheny, former major league baseball player and currently the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals.  It is a valuable read and we encourage everyone to give this a serious look.

http://www.mac-n-seitz.com/teams/mike-matheny-letter.html

Please remember these rules apply to not only house, K-8, but for all levels including traveling.  Our policies are guidelines and rules to ensure that the game of baseball is an enjoyable time for all and a time for learning valuable lessons of life and leisure.

Thank you,

Dan Herold

Past President

Rochester Youth Baseball Association (RYBA)

WHO IS RYBA?

BLOG POST #2

TITLE:            WHO IS RYBA?

The 2014 season marks the 57^th year for the Rochester Youth Baseball Association.  Baseball now competes with newer sports and activities, but the image that baseball represents remains an indelible marker in our consciousness.  Baseball stirs emotions in people.  With the coming of the baseball season, we know the long, cold, and dark Minnesota winter must inevitably give way to sunny days, and warm evenings.  For a kid, baseball season means school is about to end.  They’re older.  They’ve completed another year.  And soon, for the next 10 weeks,  they’ll be free to head out in the morning to play with friends until it’s time for dinner and then head back out again until it’s time for bed. 

It was December 5, 1856, when a writer for the New York Mercury newspaper first called baseball, "the national pastime."  The sport exploded in popularity after the Civil War and professional baseball leagues began springing up soon after in the 1870’s.  It’s surprising that it took over a century for organized youth baseball to come to Rochester Minnesota.  Sure kids played ball long before the RYBA began in 1957, but until a group of dedicated parents formed our association, organization was not part of baseball in our city.  This legacy has been passed down to us for three generations and it’s ours not only to protect, but to grow and evolve.

So who or what is RYBA? 

There’s the TECHNICAL definition.  RYBA is a registered 403-C, non- profit organization.  That explanation is a little dry however, so what about looking at it in another way?

We have a charter, a vision, a mission, and a motto.  All good organizations use those things to define who they are and what they want to be.  For those of you unfamiliar with them, here are ours.

Vision: Become the premier youth sports association in Rochester

Mission: Provide a sports experience that delivers growth in fitness, skill, and sportsmanship to youth ages 5-15.

Motto:  Youth Growing Through Baseball.

As a board, we are the caretakers of the game and we use these to operate in a more VISIONARY way.  These principles provide great guidance for us when we’re making decisions that affect our constituents.  But when we get at the core, there’s a REALISTIC definition.  

RYBA is people.  It’s the kids, parents, volunteers and sponsors that keep baseball alive in Rochester.  If we are to protect and grow the game for the next generation, we need involvement from the entire community.  If you have the ability, please consider a role as a coach.  It’s an incredibly rewarding experience.  Coaches teach, guide and set a powerful example for the players.  There are more organizational roles that are needed such as, league commissioners and board members.  Finally, as a non-profit and we have to generate income to continue to offer  baseball in Rochester.  We charge participation fees, to cover most costs,  but wouldn’t it be nice if we could generate enough income from sponsors, donations, and concessions to lower or even eliminate these fees.  Fundraising is an important role and we welcome help in any way.

Step up where you can and let’s keep the baseball ideal alive for future generations.

Direct questions and comments about this blog to:

Tony Horvath - RYBA Marketing Director

horvath.tony@rochesterbaseball.net

We Heard You Loud and Clear

PARENT SURVEY RESULTS AND RYBA ACTION PLAN

Welcome to the new Rochester Youth Baseball blog!  We are launching this new feature to bring an additional level of transparency to the workings of your association.   Sports are an important part of developing our youth and we take this responsibility seriously.  Our goal is to deliver the best youth sports program in Rochester. 

SURVEY RESULTS:  We had a great response to our annual post-season survey and we heard you loud and clear.   About 25% of our customer base took the time to complete the survey and provide us with feedback.  This year we took a deep dive into the survey results.  Every single comment was read and reviewed by the team.   We’ve developed an action plan based on what we heard. While we are very thankful to those of you that participated, we’d like to increase this number in the coming year.  The best way we can get more feedback is to assure you that we are listening and acting on what you’ve already told us.  We can’t act on every comment, but those that had critical mass will be addressed in 2014.

ACTION PLAN:  This blog is the first step in giving you more information about RYBA.  Over the next several months we’ll directly address all the top issues that were brought forward by parents.  In most cases we’ll be taking action to correct things and we’ll lay out those plans on this website.  On other issues we’ll be explaining why our current practices are really best for the entire organization.

Here is a list of the next several blog posts.  We hope you’ll read them all.

January 19  - Who is RYBA?

January 26 – RYBA Code of Conduct

February 2 – Fields and Facilities

February 9 – The House Program

February 16 – Formation and Structure of House League teams

February 23 – Balancing Practice Time and Game Time

March 2 – The Travel Program

March 9 - The Try-Out Process

March 16 - How Coaches are Chosen

March 23– Why are there different rules by age and level

March 30 – No Blog: Spring Break

ADDITIONAL FEEDBACK

Later this month we will be holding some 90 minute parent feedback forums.  Many of you volunteered to take part in these sessions and although we can’t invite everyone, we will send out invitations to 16 house league parents and 16 travel program parents.  These forums will be conducted by an outside researcher/interviewer not associated with RYBA.  This will assure that your comments remain confidential and that the feedback we get is not filtered by an RYBA representative.   The more we learn about our member needs, the better we can structure our programs to meet those needs.

RESPONSE TO BLOG POSTINGS

At this time we don’t have the ability to have an interactive forum, but any comments can be sent to the author of the blog and you will receive a personal response.  The author name and e-mail address will be listed at the end of the post. 

FINAL THOUGHTS:  The members of the Rochester Youth Baseball Association will work as hard as we can to deliver the best sports experience for your child.  We promise to make changes where they will benefit the largest possible number of participants of the program and we encourage you to continue bringing your thoughts and ideas forward throughout the year and not just in these surveys. 

Tony Horvath

RYBA Marketing Director

horvath.tony@rochesterbaseball.net