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
