It is time again to start planning for your 2010 Dunbar Baseball schedule and I am looking forward to the start of another great season. The Olympic year will complicate the early schedule a bit but we should get through that fine… Eh O Canada GO!.
We all know the phrase “Success has its price” and the success and popularity of Dunbar Little League will have an impact this year on the structure of our league. The growth of our league over recent years has put us in a position where our field space is used to the maximum extent for practices and games with little room for rainouts. We have tried hard to find a spot for everyone but this has resulted in overly large team rosters in some divisions or players pushed out of their appropriate playing level and waiting lists. The executive, with significant consultation, has made some critical decisions that you need to be aware of for 2010. We tried to minimize the impact on the Dunbar experience with these changes. Please read these carefully before registering and we look forward to seeing you at the field.
- This year we will have on-line registration. This will greatly facilitate the jobs of the Registrar, player-agents and division coordinators in providing electronic control of registered players and teams. Please see the registration information in the newsletter for details.
- Two additional divisions will have a registration-cap on numbers. As you know, the Majors division has been capped at 72 (6 teams) for some time. It would be very difficult to accommodate additional teams at this level. For 2010, both MINOR A and MINOR B will be capped at 130 players each. This is 10 teams of 13 and the maximum we can handle on our fields. This represents an increase of an additional Minor A team in 2010. Placement of players in these divisions will be on a first come, first serve basis so register online early. Placement in Minor A is based on player assessments. This will make our waiting lists slightly longer. We would therefore like to ask you to be committed to the schedule of games before you register.
- Placement in a division is based on baseball age and not school age. Baseball age is the player’s age as of April 30 of the current baseball year. This has always been the Little League regulation but needs to be followed because the divisions within the league are full. Non-grand fathered out-of-boundary players will be accepted after in-boundary registrants are complete.
- Because of the growth of the league, this year (2010) the executive has decided to limit the number of 10-year-old draftees to 1 (one) per Majors team provided the draftee is in the top 25% of all players evaluated to be drafted in current year. This is an unavoidable consequence of our league size and Little League Regulations regarding the drafting of 12 year olds. Please be reminded that majors is a competitive division that requires a high commitment of players and parents including: 2 practices and 3 games a week, and a non-optional volunteer requirement of the parents to work in the concession stand and score shed.
- In the Majors division the executive and Majors coaches have decided to test run “Continuous batting through the order (CBO)” for the first 10 scheduled games. The league will carefully monitor game statistics to gauge the impact on games played. Continuing this policy will be contingent on the results of the trial.
- LL has announced the following changes to Pitching Rules for players 14 and under. 1-20 pitches – 0 days of rest; 21-35 – 1 day of rest; 36-50 – 2 days of rest; 51-65 – 3 days of rest; 66 and over – 4 days of rest. The maximum number of pitches remains at 85 for 11-12 and 75 for 9-10 year olds.
- We are excited about initiating a new program of player development in several divisions by hiring technical coaches to help teams structure the early practices and focus on key skills in both Minor A and Minor B. This is a league wide effort to improve player/coach development with the idea of more-skill…more-fun.
Please read the 2010 newsletter and other sections of the website to get more detailed information on these issues. We are looking forward to seeing you all in the spring and the warm days of Dunbar baseball.