Legion Ball Age Limits

hey guys correction: he will be in 8th grade next year but the year after he will attend a private school.

Sorry for the confusion!!

Since senior legion is 19U (18U after 2015), he would be eligible for senior legion assuming he would make the roster over older players including young returning college freshman. The junior legion is for the less developed yonger players (or at least that's what it's supposed to be for) so the 17U just keeps 19U players from playing jr legion but for senior legion 19U,any HS age/class player is eligible. Therefore, he don't have to play junior legion but if there's an abundance of older rostered players, then he may have to play junior legion and wait his turn unless his skill level is that of the older players an would be of more use on a senior team.

When legion does eliminate the 19U players, this should be much better for HS players since college freshman won't bump them off the senior rosters which also affects the junior legion.

Eliminating the 19U from legion is long overdue but why wait to 2015.

quote:

Originally posted by Trevor:
Any way, My son is going into the 8th grade in Sept, plays on a top travel team in MA, and plays for his middle school team. He will be a freshman next year at a private school. Our town has a Senior Legion team but not a Junior Legion team.

My question is, is he allowed to play Senior legion ball as a 14 year old next summer, or does he have to play Junior intill he gets to be 17?

His travel team ends early July so he will be able to attend most of the games. One other question.

For players that play travel ball in 15U-18U age groups do you guys also play legion ball on top of travel ball since 15U-18U goes through the end of August?


Thanks,

The short simple answer is yes, he can play senior legion since your post doesn't have a junior team. This summer was my son's 3rd year playing American Legion baseball (he graduated this year - 2012) and one of his teammates was a 14 yr old.

Not sure of your post's schedule but the post my son has played for started playing as soon as the HS season was over (late May - early June) and played until late July (district tournament). I don't know how those on a travel team did it, but my son's legion team had at least 3-4 games per week. If you're also on a travel team, it would be tough to make every game. At least one of the members was on a travel team and was often absent on weekend games due to travel commitments.

quote:

Eliminating the 19U from legion is long overdue but why wait to 2015.

I respectively disagree. My son started play legion his sophomore year and I feel he benefited going up against the older players (juniors, seniors and 1st year college students). His 1st season in legion was a little rough, but he still batted just under .300 (around .290) - not bad for a 16 yr old going against 18-19 year olds. The challenge of playing "up" against older players is what attracted him. This past season (his third in legion) he was on track to average ~.340 until he suffered a hand injury at the plate as the catcher late in the season.

I think if he can make the team, he can play on the team.

I actually assisted on a Legion team this year and many of the players don't like the fact the college kids are being eliminated. We were a very young team and didn't have any college kids...but our hitters (especially) loved facing those guys as they felt it was really helping them.

I think Legion shouldn't do away with the college kids, but maybe limit them. We played some teams that were literally ALL college kids...and it was tough to compete. However, if they limited it to 3 or 4 per roster...or maybe 2 in the lineup at any one time...it would still give the HS kids their chance to play and improve, while still facing a higher caliber of ball player.

quote:

Originally posted by Trevor:
Hi everyone,

I share this account with my brother's family and then my family as well. So some of the posts may vary in age and question topic.

Any way, My son is going into the 8th grade in Sept, plays on a top travel team in MA, and plays for his middle school team. He will be a freshman next year at a private school. Our town has a Senior Legion team but not a Junior Legion team.

My question is, is he allowed to play Senior legion ball as a 14 year old next summer, or does he have to play Junior intill he gets to be 17?

His travel team ends early July so he will be able to attend most of the games. One other question.

For players that play travel ball in 15U-18U age groups do you guys also play legion ball on top of travel ball since 15U-18U goes through the end of August?


Thanks,

In many parts of the country Legion is fading away, if not in numbers then talent. In SE PA most of the better players play travel. From having a summer home in MA and now living there permanantly I know Legion is still where most players play. It's mostly the top shelf, future D1 studs who play travel.

Your son is young. Find the best place to play next summer. If it's travel tryouts may be this fall or winter. As he plays each year educate yourself on what's best for the following year.

Travel is becoming more prevelant in New England. What might be true now may not be when your son is sixteen or seventeen. If your son will be playing at one of the more known baseball privates like BBN or LA the coach will be in the know on what might be best for him regarding summer ball.

Where my son was raised in SE PA most of the college age Legion players are former high school players not good enough to play college ball. I believe this killed the competitiveness of Legion. It drove the younger talent to travel. Once the competitiveness was gone the college prospects didn't want to play Legion.