Medway Youth Baseball: FAQs
If your question is not listed here or if you would like clarification, please do not hesitate to send us an email at medwayyb@yahoo.com
Q. How old do you have to be to play baseball at MYB?
A. Tee-Ball starts for boys and girls who will be six by August 31st of the baseball year (i.e. August 31st, 2011 for the Spring 2011 season). You can continue to play through the age of 15 in senior league. We also often offer a Senior Babe Ruth league for players over the age of 15.
Q. When can I register my child for MYB?
A. Registration for the Spring season begins around September 1st. You can register online from the homepage at www.medwayyouthbaseball.com. In Early February, we will begin to implement a late fee. If you register late, we will do everything we can to fit your child in, but we may not have space left on teams.
Q. Why do we have to register for the Spring so early?
A. In order to get ready for the spring season we have a lot of activities that need to be completed. Some of the activities, like equipment/uniform orders require a longer lead time for orders our size. There is also a significant amount of planning that goes into prepping for the Spring season.
Q. Why do the evaluations and Majors tryout take place in September?
A. In years past, we have done evals/tryout in the winter, but have found that September is a better time for this activity. The MYB Board feels that doing a tryout indoor does not provide a good representation of the skill level of the players. If we wait for the winter to end, we do not have enough time to create teams, select managers, and complete all communications.
Q. How are Spring teams created?
A. Our goal in all playoff leagues (AA through Senior) is to create balanced teams. Although the goal is to create balanced teams, that is not always apparent in the game results. There are many other factors that come into play that can change the results on the field.
The league directors use a complicated process to try and balance the teams. Below are some examples of information that is taken into consideration during the team creation process:
- Evaluation/Tryout scores
- Manager ratings from the previous year
- Pitching and Catching scores (we try to ensure all teams have enough pitching and catching)
- Tondorf/Sizzler participation
- Managers children (keep managers with their children)
- Assistant Coaches children (each team has enough Assistants and their kids play on the same team)
- Keeping twins/triplets together
- Honoring special requests (if possible)
Q. Can girls play MYB?
A. Of course. We encourage everyone to participate. We have girls that play all in age groups.
Q. Why are you not a part of Little League International?
A. At this time, we do not see a significant benefit to the Medway baseball families to be a part of little league.
Q. My child is a very good baseball player for his/her age, can he/she play with the older league?
A. At this time, we do not allow players to "Play-Up" with the exception of the Grade exception we allow.
Q. How are Managers selected for MYB?
A. At the time of registration, we ask for volunteers. The Board of Directors reviews those volunteers based on past experience and needs of the particular league to try and select the most appropriate managers for a particular age group. At times, we do not have the right volunteers and we ask other members of the MYB community to step-up and become a manager.
Q. How are coaches selected?
A. At the time of registration, we ask for volunteers. We provide a list of volunteers to the managers when they receive their teams and ask them to confirm the assistant coaches.
Q. Does MYB provide any summer baseball programs?
A. Yes. We have a number of different options for summer baseball
- Senior Babe Ruth - This is a league with other area towns for children aged 16+
- Babe Ruth - This is a league with other area towns for children aged 13-15
- Tondorf - Medway hosts a tournament with 7 other area towns. You must tryout for this tournament and commit to the 4+ week schedule. We put in one team each age group from 9 to 12 (4 total teams).
- Hopkinton Sizzler - Medway participates in the Hopkinton hosted tournament with other area towns. You must tryout for this tournament and commit to the 5+ week schedule. We put in 4 teams for this tournament - 2 for 9-10 year olds and 2 for 11-12 year olds.
- Upper Charles River League - This is a "fun", "weekend- friendly" league for players who choose not to tryout or do not make the Tondorf/Sizzler teams. It is open for players age 9 - 12.
- Farm Summer League - This is a "fun" league for players who played in MYB Farm league during the spring. It is open to players age 8 (we may also open it to 7 year olds in the future)
Q. Does MYB provide any Fall baseball programs?
A. No, at this time we do not. We are looking into options for this.
Q. How are summer all star teams selected?
A. For the Tondorf and Sizzler teams, we hold tryouts for any interested child between the ages of 9 and 12. We also ask all managers in AA, AAA and Major leagues to vote on players for the all star teams. Managers vote for the top players based on their performance in the spring season. The manager votes are combined with the tryout scores to create a list of players for the all star teams. This list is compiled and reviewed by the Tournament committee to ensure no errors have occurred. The top 10 players in each age group are placed on the Tondorf team. The manager of the Tondorf team then selects the final 2 players for the Tondorf team. (these 2 players must have received at least 1 vote from a manager)
Once the Tondorf team is complete, the rankings are used to create 4 Sizzler teams. There are 4 Sizzler teams - two for 9 and 10 year olds combined and two for 11 and 12 year olds combined. The next eight 10 year olds and the next four 9 year olds will be placed on the A Sizzler 9/10 team. The next eight 10 year olds and the next 4 9 year olds(assuming we have enough players) will be placed on the B Sizzler 9/10 team. The same breakdown will happen for the 11/12 team (8 12's and 4 11's on each team).
Q. Why are the age requirements different for Tondorf and Sizzler?
A. For the Tondorf tournament, Medway uses the same rules as the Spring season. Therefore, players that are "playing up" in the spring season will also "play up" in Tondorf.
For the Sizzler tournament, Hopkinton sets the age rules based on Little League. Therefore, they do not allow any players to "play up".
So - To be considered a 9 year old in:
- Tondorf - Must be 9 by August 31st of the current year and must be "playing up" in MYB (playing in AA)
- Sizzler - Must be 9 by April 30th of the current year - no exceptions
These same birth date cutoffs apply for 10, 11 and 12 year olds.
Q. Can I choose to play only Tondorf or only Sizzler?
A. No. When your child attends the try-out for the All Star team, they are trying out for Tondorf and Sizzler and are agreeing to play on either team and meet the participation requirements.
If your child is not willing to play on any of the all star teams, they should not attend the tryout. Attending a tryout and not playing results in a Medway child being disappointed about losing a spot on the team.
Q. How are managers selected for the summer teams?
A. This is a Volunteer position. If multiple people volunteer to manage, priority is given to people that managed during the spring season. If there are still multiple volunteers for a manager position and they all managed during the spring season, both managers will be notified that we have multiple candidates. If both managers still want to manage, an interview process with the MYB board will be conducted.
If no one volunteers to manage a team, the MYB board will try to identify a set of strong candidates and select a manager from that group.
Q. If my child can not make an All Star tryout can they still make a team?
A. If anyone misses a tryout, they will be provided a zero score for that tryout. Call backs will be based on the score of the first tryout. ( If the child is injured and misses the first tryout, they will automatically be added to the call back list, but will still have a zero for the first tryout). Many times we callback everyone, including the zero scores, for the second tryout.
The zero score does not eliminate your child from contention for the team, but it makes it more difficult. The manager votes and the second tryout score will be critical to help your child make a team.
Q. I have heard there are All Stars selected in Babe Ruth and Senior Babe Ruth, how are they selected?
A. Yes. the Babe Ruth and Senior Babe Ruth leagues host an All Star game each year. 1 or 2 players from each team are selectd to participate in this game, including the Medway team(s). The Managers of each team are responsible for selected the players.
Q. How are Babe Ruth teams created?
A. If we have multiple teams at an age group (dependent on the # of players who register), we try to create balanced teams. The managers for each team and the Director of Babe ruth get together before the season and use a draft process to select even teams. The league Director will help to ensure information abouts players abaility is readily available. Although the goal is to create balanced teams, that is not always apparent in the game results. There are many other factors that come into play that can change the results on the field.
Q. My son/daughter tried out for Majors in September, when will they find out if they made it?
A. In March we will notify all players who made Majors. We need to wait until registration is complete in February, so that we know how many 12 year olds are playing and therefore, how many 11 year olds we will need to fill the Majors rosters.
