BYC Baseball Committee In Season Travel Baseball Program Ages 8 12 Overview A. This program is in response to the increasing desire in the BYC community to play a higher level of baseball outside of the traditional BYC Travel baseball season which runs primarily in June and July. The goal of the BYC Travel Baseball program is to provide players in the BYC community the opportunity to play at a higher level while still participating in BYC intramurals. This will advance the skill level of these players over a wider range of time. This would allow these advanced players to work on skills outside of those applicable to all traditional BYC intramural players. The focus would be on advanced skill development; winning is not the primary goal in this program, but rather a more competitive environment providing an opportunity for growth. B. This document uses the terminology In Season Travel. Many people refer to Spring Travel. That terminology is avoided here solely because teams may choose to play in the autumn as well. C. This program is available for each year, ages 8 12. Process 1. Number of Teams If there is enough interest and an available coach, two teams will be formed for each age group, an A team and a B team. The 8 year old team may, if determined by the Minors A GM and the prior season s two 7 year old all star coaches, have two equal teams instead of an A team and a B team. 2. Conflicts with Intramurals It is anticipated that possible conflicts will arise with intramurals and other activities that will prohibit all players from participating in all games. Players will be required to participate in intramurals and intramural play will take precedence if conflicts arise. Specifically, a player must choose an intramural game over a travel team game or practice that conflicts, and must chose an intramural practice over a travel team practice. A player may, however, choose a travel game over an intramural practice. Keep in mind players must play in 50% of all intramural games to be eligible for summer All Star travel baseball (Cal Ripken Rule). 3. Players and Coaches The In Season travel program is an extension of the summer District and Select teams voted in May. There will, of course, sometimes be openings because players or coaches move, choose not to play, etc. These rules set forth the guidelines in those scenarios, but it is important to note that in the ordinary course the In Season team will be the prior summer s team. The time for electing new players and coaches is May for the following year, and the In Season Travel Program does not effect this. The selection process for vacancies will not interfere with or change the current BYC ALL STAR SELECTION PROCESS.
a) Coaches i. The coach of the "A" BYC In Season travel baseball team will be the coach of the BYC DISTRICT team from the previous season. If the 8 year old team decides to have an A and a B team (see #1, above), the two coaches of the prior year s 7 year old summer All Star teams will attempt to agree between themselves who will be the "A" team coach, and if an agreement is not reached, the Baseball Committee will decide with input from the league GM. ii. The coach of the "B" In Season Travel team will be the prior summer's Select team coach, if any is interested. If there were two select teams that were not equally divided, the coach of the high Select team will be the B team s coach. If there were two equal Select teams, the two coaches will attempt to agree between themselves who will be the head coach, and if an agreement is not reached, the Baseball Committee will decide with input from the league GM. If neither is interested, the process below for non returning District coaches will be followed. iii. Coaches will only be permitted to coach an In Season Travel team contingent on positive feedback received during the season. This is also contingent on the coach adhering to the BYC CODE OF CONDUCT. The Baseball Committee will approve all coaches prior to the formation of the team. iv. If the District Coach from the previous summer declines the opportunity to coach the In Season travel team or is not approved by the Baseball Committee, the head coach job will be offered as follows: First Level, to the prior season District team s assistant coaches; Second Level, to the parents of the players on the prior season s District team; Third Level, to the prior season s Select team head coaches. If more than one candidate expresses interest within the same Level, the Baseball Committee will select which candidate will be named head coach, with input from the league GM. If a Select team head coach declines the opportunity, the same process will be followed, except that the Third Level will be the lower Select team s head coach, if any. The head coach will be responsible for picking his assistant coaches from the available parents of players on the team. All coaches must complete all required BYC background checks. The head coach should be selected prior to the February Baseball Committee meeting and approved at that meeting. b) Players i. "A" team" Players selected to the BYC District team will be offered the opportunity to participate on the "A" BYC In Season Travel team in their current age group. The selection to this team is contingent on players meeting the participation requirements set forth in the BYC ALL 2
STAR SELECTION PROCESS. This is also contingent on them maintaining adherence to the BYC code of conduct for players and parents while participating in all previous travel baseball games and practices. If either of these contingencies is not met, the player may be deemed ineligible for In Season Travel play. Otherwise, a player who was on the BYC All Star roster through the end of the summer (i.e., without quitting during the summer) must be offered a chance to participate unless otherwise approved by the BYC Baseball Committee. If there are any non returning players, the head coach will fill in the remaining roster at his discretion after consulting with and with input from the league GM. If the GM and coach do not agree, it shall be brought to the Baseball Committee. It is required that players filing these vacant positions must be drawn from the previous year s Select Travel teams unless no such player is interested. Picking a player who did not play Select will require approval by the BYC Baseball Committee. In addition, this program is only available to players who played BYC Baseball last year and continue to play BYC Baseball this year, and reside in its boundaries (or to whom the grandfathering rule applies). The no play up rule will apply just as in regular play. Rosters should be formulated prior to the March Baseball Committee meeting and approved at that meeting. ii. "B" team" Players from the prior summer's Select team will be offered the opportunity to participate on the "B" BYC In Season Travel Team. If there were two or more Select teams, and one was a high select team and the other a lower Select team (e.g., the 2013 8 year olds), this refers to the high Select team. If there were two or more equal Select teams (e.g., the 2012 10 year olds), the first step will be to determine if more than 15 players wish to play for the "B" team. If not, all interested players will constitute the "B" team. If more than 15 players are interested, a tryout will be held, run by the league GM, among the interested Select team players from both teams. If there are any non returning players, the vacancies will be filled in the same manner as for vacancies for the District team described in paragraph (i) above, except that it is recognized that if an age group only had one Select team the prior summer there might not be an interested Select player to choose from to fill the vacancy. In that case, the rule set forth in paragraph (i) requiring vacancies to be filled by a player who played BYC Baseball last year and this year still must be adhered to. iii. Participation on any In Season Travel Baseball team will not provide players any advantage or disadvantage (including their decision on whether to play or not to play during the In Season Travel Program) towards making the Summer BYC ALL STAR or Select team(s). These In Season Travel teams will play outside of the process used to select the 3
BYC ALL STAR teams and will have no effect on the current BYC ALL STAR SELECTION PROCESS. 4. Rosters Because the In Season program is an extension of the summer program, permanent roster sizes shall be 12 players (with the only exception being a B team where the prior summer there were two equal Select teams see Rule 3(ii) above). However, recognizing that more conflicts arise in the spring than the summer, should a coach realize he will have 10 or fewer players for a given game, the coach may invite guest players for that game. In such a situation, the preferred method for finding a guest player is that the A team may ask the coach of the B team of the same age to borrow players for a given game and vice versa. The coaches shall work together in the event of such a request. Should they be unable to come to an agreement, they will contact the Tournaments & Travel Manager to assist. If this does not result in filling the needed spots for the given game, the head coach may choose another player for that given game who played BYC Baseball the prior year and this year; and if any player who played Select baseball last summer is not on a roster, he must be asked first. 5. Uniforms Players will wear their BYC All Star uniform provided the previous summer. New uniforms will not be provided for In Season Travel Play. 6. Playing Time This program will focus on player growth. All TSE and SEPA games allow for free substitution (same as used in BYC intramural play). All players present at games will be in the batting order and equal playing time in the field will be required. 7. Pitching No player may pitch more than 2 innings in any TSE game. No player may pitch more than 40 pitches in any TSE game. It is strongly recommended that players are limited to one inning pitched per game. The focus should be on developing additional pitchers at this level. The travel coach must coordinate an equitable pitching rotation with the player s intramural coach. As playoffs approach the better pitchers must be available to pitch for their intramural teams as a first priority. Earlier in the spring the travel program pitching should take precedence. 8. Cost The cost to participate in the program will be determined by the Travel Coordinator to cover: a) Umpires b) Balls and Equipment c) Scorebook d) Insurance e) Any tournaments or league fees (e.g., TSE has an entry fee, but SEPA does not) Thus, the cost likely will be different for different spring travel teams, but will be the same for every member of a team. 9. Field Needs 4
a) Practice Time It is not anticipated that these teams will have many practices, if any. Players will be practicing with their intramural teams and playing intramural games. No practice time will be guaranteed to these teams and they will work with their BYC intramural GM to find time if required. b) Home fields will not be available for every spring travel game. It is anticipated that there will be some limited availability for 10U 12U teams on field 3 and 4, and 9U teams at Francis Harvey Green, on Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons. 10. Scheduling a) The TSE League holds their Spring Scheduling during the first week in March. Games are scheduled at this meeting and through subsequent phone calls and emails. The SEPA league does its scheduling online beginning in late February. Playing independent games is also an option, which would require scheduling at approximately the same time. b) All BYC Travel teams will work together with the Travel and Tournaments Manager (Russ Silberglied) to evenly split available field times provided by the league. 5