Important Game Day Reminders for Umpires and Coaches
Thank you for an amazing start to our Fall Ball season. We appreciate the incredible perseverance and dedication everyone has shown throughout a very wet August limiting practice times and umpire development opportunities. Those conditions aside, it’s been remarkable to see how all facets of OYO are working together to create a great experience for all our teams, ballplayers and families.
After the first two weekends — and one-third of the regular season — a few recurring themes surrounding game-related rules are surfacing. As a result, I am consolidating and addressing seven of the most prevalent topics here so all coaches and umpires can be on the same page for the remainder of the season.
1. BASEBALL PITCHING RULES
The current rule has been in place for Minor, Super Major and Junior Baseball since at least 2017, if not longer. Yet, in unprecedented fashion, there seems to be increasing confusion about how many innings a player can pitch this fall. In short, during the Fall Ball regular season that features doubleheaders, pitchers can pitch following a “per day” limit. This rule was developed more than a decade ago with the input of, among others, those in the medical field and sports medicine that helps ensure player safety is at the forefront. The feedback then and now remains the same.
The current rule has been in place for Minor, Super Major and Junior Baseball since at least 2017, if not longer. Yet, in unprecedented fashion, there seems to be increasing confusion about how many innings a player can pitch this fall. In short, during the Fall Ball regular season that features doubleheaders, pitchers can pitch following a “per day” limit. This rule was developed more than a decade ago with the input of, among others, those in the medical field and sports medicine that helps ensure player safety is at the forefront. The feedback then and now remains the same.
So, for Minor Baseball, a pitcher can pitch three innings in one game and none in the other. And, for Super Major and Junior Baseball, a pitcher can pitch four innings in one game and none in the other. This should be managed on the honor policy — as well as in accordance with safety for the ballplayers.
Please note, this flexibility does not apply to Tournament Sunday. For the tournament, a hard-fast rule and limit is in place. In Minor, Super Major and Junior Baseball, teams can only pitch a pitcher two innings per game (and no limit for the day). This helps ensure rules are being followed without a paper tracking system that is hard to maintain on a very fast-paced tournament day. So, we recommend working to develop as many pitchers as you can this fall. You will need at least three on Tournament Sunday!
For the official wording of the rule, you can download the rules here and review page 16 for Fall Ball pitching guidelines (which are different from Spring Season).
2. BAT ELIGIBILITY
We encourage all coaches to communicate with their teams about approved bats for the OYO rec league. While this is a much more prevalent topic in baseball, it’s becoming increasingly more relevant for softball too.
We encourage all coaches to communicate with their teams about approved bats for the OYO rec league. While this is a much more prevalent topic in baseball, it’s becoming increasingly more relevant for softball too.
Baseball | For the baseball bat eligibility guidelines, which vary slightly for Junior Baseball compared to the other younger divisions, you can access the policy here.
Softball | The list of “non-approved bats” is growing. What once started as only a dozen ineligible bats now involves a list of nearly 60 bats in their latest report.
Accountability | The penalty remains in effect and will be enforced if a player and/or team are found in violation of the policy. See below.
All Leagues | On first usage of an illegal bat, the batter shall be declared out. If the ball was put in play, anyone put out is out and all runners not put out are returned to the base occupied before the ball was put into play. Also, both the team and head coach are each issued a warning. Every time an illegal bat is found for the remainder of the game, the batter and acting head coach are ejected and the aforementioned penalty to the batter and baserunners are applied. When the ejected player’s turn appears in the lineup, the offensive team is charged an out for that at bat.
3. COACH-PITCH DIVISIONS | UMPIRES CALL TIME, NOT THE PLAYERS
The largest rules-related misunderstanding at OYO occurs in Junior Rookie, Rookie and 08U Softball. The common belief is a player must call for time for the umpire to call time. False!
So, coaches, we encourage you to curtail the practice of teaching players to ask for time. Instead focus on players simply having control of the ball in the circle or in front of the lead runner. The only four ways an umpire will call time are when:
- A pitcher’s helper has control of the ball in the circle
- Any player on the field has control of the ball in front of the lead runner
- A coach-pitcher receives the ball from the player (NOTE: if you put your hands up for them to throw it and then put them down to result in an errant throw…the umpire will still call time)
- The ball goes out of play (outside the field of play through a dugout opening or over the sideline fence)
4. ALL DIVISIONS | COURTESY RUNNER IS ALLOWED…USE THEM!
We want to help all teams maximize their actual live game-time experience. However, we often witness as much as seven minutes between half innings. In a four- inning game that can amount to nearly 50 minutes of teams getting ready. That’s half of the time allotted for a game on Sunday. To counter this, first, we encourage coaches to have lineups ready and posted and players to hustle in, hustle out. However, the largest time-sucking effort is getting a catcher ready. And all too often, the catcher is on base with two outs adding to the lengthy gap between innings. So, we also encourage all teams at all levels (except JRO which does not use a catcher) to utilize the OYO courtesy runner rule. See below!
Courtesy Runner for Catcher Rule | Teams may substitute a runner for the catcher only when there are two outs. The substitute runner must be the last available batter in the order that is not a current base runner.
5. GAME TIME LIMITS
During the Fall Ball regular season, the handling of how games start and end are handled differently. All games are scheduled for 1 hour and 45 minutes (except for last weekend’s Photo Day schedule of 1 hour and 30 minutes).
- Start Game | All 9 a.m. games start with the playing of the National Anthem. However, all subsequent game time slots (11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3:15 p.m., 5:15 p.m.) start as soon as the umpire is ready.
- End Game | All games in all five time slots will end when announced by an OYO Advisor on Duty over the PA system. If both coaches and umpires agree to stop play a few minutes early as they are between half-innings, then that is acceptable only if all three parties agree. Otherwise, keep playing until the “Ballgame” announcement is issued.
Please note, on Tournament Sunday, this all changes. And the start and end times of all games will be handled exclusively by the umpire(s) on the field.
6. DON’T STALL…DO WHAT’S RIGHT FOR THE KIDS
This past weekend, I personally learned of baseball and softball teams intentionally stalling late in the game of a regular season game. This is disheartening and simply not reflective of The OYO Way.
Remember, we don’t keep standings so wins and losses do not matter. The tournament is a blind draw (computerized draw) so outcomes have no impact on the tournament pairings. So, when you stall, you take away playing opportunities from players which in turn results in less development experience they need to help you be ready for Tournament Sunday and beyond.
Be a good sport, always play the game right and with the intention to maximize the experience!
(And for good measure, on Tournament Sunday, umpires will be prepared and authorized to counter any blatant attempts at stalling late in a tournament game.)
7. WINS AND LOSSES DO NOT MATTER IN REGULAR SEASON
We understand baseball and softball is a competitive sport. We track batter counts and outs. Teams keep score and use scorebooks. Players recognize wins and losses. Yet, in the end, everyone wins when players develop and enjoy playing the game. Too often this fall, we are being approached about “what happens when a game stops mid-inning, who wins?”. If it really matters to you, then you simply revert back to the last complete inning (unless the home team is ahead and winning).
Again, though, I emphasize it does not matter. Personally, my response to those inquiries is always “did you have a chance to teach solid fundamental baseball and softball skills to all players?”. If so, then your team just won the day, not the game. So, our encouragement is to keep the eye on the bigger picture and develop all your ballplayers this fall, notwithstanding the scores and outcomes each Sunday. Then, come Tournament Sunday, when scores and wins/losses do matter, your team will be more than ready!
8. FIELD CARE MATTERS EACH AND EVERY WEEKNIGHT AND GAME DAY
Here’s our friendly reminder to all coaches to keep taking care of the fields. Even during long dry spells like the one we’re enjoying, how we maintain our fields after practices and games will keep the fields playable when we experience our next heavy rainstorm. Please always take 5-10 minutes to rake in the areas that are heavily used (e.g. batter’s box, pitcher’s area, around each of the bases).
Also, on game days, the home team is responsible for chalking the field (and removing contents after chalking) while the visitor team is responsible for raking following the game.
We appreciate all your assistance with these important contributions to helping keep our fields playable for all our families.