Lakewood Baseball Club (LBC): Rules Addendum (Revised 201531)
TEAMS
Reference Rule 3 in “PONY Rules”
C. Teams from outside the boundary of the Lakewood Baseball Club (LBC) may play in the organization if:
1. Approval to play is granted by the District Director and/or the State PONY President.
2. Teams acknowledge that they must follow PONY rules governing age and adhere to LBC league rules and player draft procedures.
3. Teams acknowledge that their players are ineligible to participate in any PONY sanctioned tournaments should they play outside their designated PONY boundary.
Team members play within their respective PONY league age division. The only exceptions to this ruleis are referencedin Rule 4 in the section below regarding legal players(below).
LEGAL PLAYERS
Reference Rule 4 in “PONY Rules”
F. There could arise a medical and/or mental condition that may call into question the eligibility of a player to participate in his/her age bracket. In those cases, it will be the parent’s responsibility to have his/her child evaluated by a physician. Prior to registration, a letter of participation from a qualified physician shall be included with the registration form addressing the recommended level of play in which a player may safely engage. The matter will then be discussed by the standing committee charged with addressing issues of play, the State PONY President and/or the Regional Director. A determination regarding play will be made pending the outcome of the meeting.
If a parent would like their child to play for a team in the division above his age group, a request must be made to the Board by the coach of that team and will be considered for approval by the Board on a case-by-case basis. Players can only play up one division.
No player can be registered to play in multiple divisions at the same time.
SELECTION OF PLAYERS
Reference Rule 6 in “Pony Rules”
A-1. Players may come from outside the boundary as long as they have approval from the Board President and the Regional Director OR the State PONY President.
G. LBC will use a “draft” system for the selection of unassigned players for teams.
· All players who have registered will be eligible for the draft.
· The draft will take place after tryouts and the published close of registration.
· Pinto and Shetland-age players are not required to try out.
· Players who register post-draft will be placed on a waiting list in the order in which they were registered.
· The Player Agent of the league will assign these players to a team after all drafted players have been selected.
· Players who were on the roster of an “existing” (see definition below) LBC team at the end of a prior year who meet league requirements are eligible to play for that team.
· Players who choose to leave an existing LBC team for which they are eligible to play within their age bracket, must re-enter the draft.
· Players who are new to LBC or no longer meet the age requirements to play with their former team, may join an existing team in their age group. Once they choose to join this team, they cannot choose in future to leave this team and rejoin a previous team.
· An allowance will be made for players living in the same household to be placed on the same LBC team. Any other special circumstances will be considered by the standing committee for exceptions.
· Players are allowed to “play up” out of their age division following PONY division rules.
· “Intact” teams joining LBC from other leagues are welcome to play in the LBC league as long as:
o They abide by the LBC draft rules (below)
o The rosters from the prior year in their league can be validated for adherence to LBC rules
o Challenge procedures may include the requirement for submission of certified birth certificates at the request of the LBC Board
NOTE: If a parent removes his/her child from one team to participate on another team that he/she is coaching, that parent must be listed as one of the three coaches on the official roster and must participate in 70% of the regular season and 75% of the post season games. Failure to do so will cause forfeiture of games that the coach failed to attend.
Definition of an “existing team”:
· An “existing” team is defined as one of the following:
(1) A team that played in the previous season, whose head coach has decided to continue the team into the next season with at least one player remaining from the previous roster, OR
(2) A team that played in the previous season and has lost their head coach, but wishes to continue the team and has 3 parent representatives registered inan official capacity to represent the team.
THE DRAFT
· Coaches will be assigned a date and time to hold their draft.
· Coaches will be present at the time of the draft. It will be a closed draft.
· The draft order will be as follows:
o Depending on the number of players registered, LBC may have “unassigned” – or new – teams that may not be represented by a specific coach at the time of the draft. Those teams will be positioned FIRST in the draft order. An existing coach from another division will perform the draft duties for these unassigned teams.
o Team rosters for existing teams will show how many returning players a teams has registered. The team with the least number of players will be positioned NEXT in the draft order. Teams with equal numbers of players will be randomly positioned in this slot.
First round example:
1. 1st pick: unassigned team #1
2. 2nd pick: unassigned team #2
3. 3rd pick: returning team with 5 existing players
4. 4th pick: returning team #1 with 7 existing players (order randomly assigned)
5. 5th pick: returning team #2 with 7 existing players (order randomly assigned)
6. Draft continues following this method.
· The draft will continue until all teams have had their first selection round. The second round will commence in reverse order.
· This will continue until all teams have been formed.
· Each team will be allowed 1 (one) trade to be completed before the coaches leave the draft room. Exception: Unassigned teams will not be allowed to trade players on draft day.
· Any roster changes after draft day will need LBC Board approval.
COACHES RELEASING PLAYERS
· Any player who was a member of a team in the league in the prior year, and who is still eligible under the age and residency rules, may be released from a team prior to tryouts/draft. Manager must make a written request for this release to the Player Agent and the player involved before the release will become effective. That player is then eligible to participate in tryouts and the draft for the current year.
· Once players have been selected and placed on a team, they may be released only for disciplinary reasons with the approval of the Player Agent and not for lack of playing ability.
· Players released from a team may solicit a team they wish to join.
· Managers/coaches are responsible for notifying the player, his/her parents, and the Player Agent when any player is released from the team roster for disciplinary reasons.
· Managers/coaches are expected to maintain a full roster of players as long as replacements for injured players are available in the player pool. Injured players expected to resume playing before the conclusion of the current season, or who have another year of eligibility remaining in the program, may be retained on the team roster.
· Managers/coaches may release players if the team is disbanding.
PLAYING RULES
Reference Rule 9 in “PONY Rules”
S. Pinto, Mustang and Bronco: Teams will bat all players on their batting roster. Coaches cannot change the batting lineup after all players have batted. If a player is injured or leaves the game after he/she has had an at-bat, the injured player will be called out on the subsequent rotation.
T. Pony: Teams will bat (10) players only. The rules that apply to starters also apply to the 10th player.
U. Colt: Teams will bat (9) players only. Standard baseball rules apply.
V. Pinto, Mustang: Players may be freely substituted in both divisions with the exception of the pitching position in Mustang.
W. Bronco, Pony and Colt will follow standard baseball rules with the exception that all players must be afforded a minimum of (1) at-bat and have played a minimum of (2) defensive innings.
Issues regarding these rules of play, including all rules in this addendum, will be decided by a standing subcommittee of the LBC Board consisting of:
1. The Board President
2. The Player Agent
3. The Coach Representative
4. A Non-Coaching Representative
5. The Parent Liaison
PLAYOFFS
LBC will determine the playoff scenarios based on the number of teams playing in each division. The preferred playoff scenario:
· After one-half season of play the teams in the league will be split into divisions based on the W/L record. The teams will then play a standard double-elimination schedule within their divisions.
If there are an insufficient number of teams to make divisions feasible, LBC will play a straight double-elimination schedule within the league.
ALL STAR TEAM SELECTION
There will be published, mandatory tryouts – open to all LBC players – held during the first half of the season. Multiple coaches from the league will form the selection committee. If a coach has a player on his/her team trying out for the All Star team, it is expected that that coach will participate in the selection process.
COACH ATTIRE
All coaches who participate in a game in their official capacity as a coach, must wear a uniform shirt and cap.
LBC Rules Addendum 2011 Page 2