Notice: Very Important Age Group Changes For Little League Baseball!!!! (11/25/14)

Clarion Little League President Brian Smail has received information on some very significant age group changes for Little League Baseball. He shares the following information.

This article is important to any parent that has an 8 year old child that is planning on playing baseball next spring.

Little League International, in an effort to not have any 13 year-olds playing in the World Series, have made age adjustments. These age adjustments affect a lot of players that will be 8 when baseball starts in 2015.

For the new list, any player that was born between May, 2005 to December 2006 will be considered 9 years old. Many of these players planned on playing another year of minor league and then 4 years of little league. This new rule means that if they decide to play minor league ball next year, they lose a year of little league. This is unfortunate news, but since we are chartered by Little League International, we have to follow their rules. This affects 8 year old BASEBALL players only, not softball.

The following is the email that they sent to me, along with their age chart.

Brian Smail
2015 Rule Changes & Clarifications

2015 Baseball
Regulation IV – The Players
Little League (Majors) Division: Any candidate with amateur status who will attain the age of 9 years on or after May 1, 2014, and who will not attain the age of 13 before May 1 of the year in question shall be eligible to compete in Little League Baseball (subject to the local league Board of Directors alignment of this division). This means that a participant who will be 13 years old on May 1 or later, is eligible to play that year; a participant who will be 13 years old on April 30 or earlier will not be eligible for either local league play or tournament play at any time during the calendar year in question. NOTE: League age 12 year-olds may participate in Minors Division under certain circumstances.

Minor League Division: Any candidate with amateur status who will attain the age of 7 years on or after January 1, 2015, and who will not attain the age of 13 before May 1 of the year in question shall be eligible to compete in the Minor League Division Baseball (subject to the local league Board of Directors alignment of this division). This means that a participant who will be 13 years old on May 1 or later, is eligible to play that year; a participant who will be 13 years old on April 30 or earlier will not be eligible for either local league play or tournament play at any time during the calendar year in question.

Tee Ball Division: Any candidate with amateur status who will attain the age of 4 years on or after January 1, (2015), and who will not attain the age of 8 on or before December 31, (2015), of the year in question shall be eligible to compete in the Tee Ball Division Baseball (subject to the local league Board of Directors alignment of this division). This means that a participant who will be 7 years old on or before December 31, is eligible to play that year; a participant who will be 8 years old on December 31 or earlier, will not be eligible for either local league play or tournament play at any time during the calendar year in question.

The chart from Little League International that details the age revision for 2015 is posted on their website.

www.littleleague.org/learn/rules/rulechanges.htm