Playing Up
As a general rule effective Dec. 01, 2020, Playing Up is allowed and opened to all age divisions. This will be considered upon parent/legal guardian request only, and not as a coach or board member request. The exception is that if the child’s parent/legal guardian is a coach or board member. In addition, we generally require all kids to play at their appropriate age level in accordance with the age guidelines posted on our website. This addendum to the rule, was voted in to address the rare and few individual cases where key exceptional, and advanced skills put the safety of others in jeopardy. See below for more information.
The Process
1. The Parent/Legal Guardian must register the player in their current assigned age division and have paid the balance of the registration fee before the skills assessment.
2. The Parent/Legal Guardian will formerly notify the Division’s Player Agent and or VP of Baseball Operations in formal writing via email or correspondence letter (for documentation purposes) of their intent. This notice will need to be submitted prior to the commencement of the child’s currently assigned age division’s skills assessment for that season.
3. The child will attend their current age division skills assessment and need to score a minimum qualifying RAW score of 13 for further consideration. Child will be notified after the assessment if they qualified and asked to be present at the next division’s skills assessment.
4. After the child finishes the next Divisions Skills Assessment, the deciding panel will evaluate the results and let the parent’s/legal guardians know within 24 hours of the results. The notification will indicate the acceptance or denial and any constructive feedback if the child did not make it. If the child is accepted, they will be transferred to the updated age division in the system which may require additional registration fees. They will then await to be placed on a team along with the rest of that division’s player membership.
5. Any questions or motions to reconsider can be directed to the executive board in formal writing. The League President will have the ultimate authority, in his sole and absolute discretion, to approve or deny such a request for appeal, or to make any subsequent modification thereof if deemed to be in the best interests of both the League and the player, and all decisions are final and cannot be appealed.
**There will be no refunds offered, for any reason, after the refund deadline. This includes wanting to cancel the registration if a child did not qualify to play.
The Criteria
1. Player must attend and score a minimum RAW score of 13 in their current assigned age division skills assessment.
2. Player must attend the next age divisions skills assessment and rank equal to or better than 50% of its participating membership’s RAW scoring.
3. Player must demonstrate maturity to play well with older players and not be a distraction.
4. Player must demonstrate ability to focus and perform general baseball fundamentals.
5. Physical readiness and player history will also be taken into consideration.
Acknowledgements
Once a player is accepted into the higher division, they will become eligible to participate in that season’s All-Star Tryouts. If a player does not make All-Stars for that division they are playing up to, they will not be eligible for the lower division All-Stars whether they try out or not. It is important to note that “playing up” does not guarantee a spot on the All-Star Team.