Thought you guys might want to see PG’s updated approach to age vs. graduation year:
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Wish they would use August 1st instead of May 1st.
Why do they use May 1st? Seems kind of arbitrary. It’s in the middle of LL season.
@DD 2024 posted:Why do they use May 1st? Seems kind of arbitrary. It’s in the middle of LL season.
I don’t know if it’s specifically why PG chose 5/1. But I know where it came from in general. It goes back to fifteen years ago. I know this because deadline changes allowed my son the option of a stay back 12yo season in LL with his May birthday. He chose to move on to 13u.
At the time USA Baseball was trying to get all baseball programs to shift to 1/1 like USA Softball, ASA softball and all the other travel softball programs. The leagues balked. USA Baseball convinced them to move from 8/1 to 5/1 as phase one of ultimately getting to 1/1. When ultimately getting to 1/1 eligibility was going to be “What’s your age on 1/1. That’s your age group.”
With LL it put more older, big kids on a 46/60 field. It was ridiculous. I think LL moved their date. I have no idea what they changed to nor do I care.
I think it was around 2015 when LL moved their cut off from 4/30 to 12/31. And, then, when people balked, they moved it to 7/31.
August 1st ain't perfect but it's better than May 1st.
PG using May 1st still allows for kids in the Summer to be a year older than everyone else if they were born in May or June.
This is the ground hog day for small field baseball. The dreaded birthday dilemma
@Francis7 posted:I think it was around 2015 when LL moved their cut off from 4/30 to 12/31. And, then, when people balked, they moved it to 7/31.
August 1st ain't perfect but it's better than May 1st.
PG using May 1st still allows for kids in the Summer to be a year older than everyone else if they were born in May or June.
8/1 was the date forever (going back to when I played LL) until it was changed to 5/1.
This is essentially status quo since the current rules are not enforced. The current rules for 12u as an example are:
Grade 6 or younger OR born on or after May 01, 2008
The new rule just adds the 2 player exception, so is actually more liberal. Unless the new rule is a sign of more vigilant enforcement, they are status quo and could even open the door to older players who were born before May 1st.
I doubt it, but maybe the current rules are more likely to be enforced at the flagship tournaments. A review of teams rosters on the perfect game website will generally show more than half the players are in 7th grade. These are all from perfect game profiles, so the teams aren't even trying to hide it.
The May 1 date is the standard except for little league. (E.g. Babe Ruth, Ripken, etc.)
Calhoun I read it as a signal to enforce it...PLUS limiting it to only 2. So whereas before you could be U13 OR a 7th grader, now they are saying you actually have to be U13 except for up to two exceptions. So once it roles up to the older ages, the 17 and a half year old kid who has reclassed and, under the current rules, can still play with 2023s because that's his graduating year will required to be one of two exceptions or he will have to play up at his correct birth year.
Definitely correct me if I'm wrong since I'm out the door on this stuff and not following it closely.
Also, just a little sad to see that there is a demand for 6U PG tournaments. I wish parents would understand the importance of playing local and having fun at that age.
@2025prospect posted:@PTWood posted:
I was on PGs website and I found a kid who was 3”8, 40 pounds who went to a State Exposure Games event. Still 6 years old at the time….
That is really sad.
I totally can see that it could be a sign that they intend to enforce the rules in the future. They are using the mlb playbook and need to foreshadow the rules which they intend on enforcing.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I personally don't ever see the ages for travel-ball going to August (grade level appropriate). That would pretty much dissolve every "A" team in every top organization across the board. This is especially true in youth baseball.
@ReluctantO'sFan the cut off is slightly different for each state:
I was on PGs website and I found a kid who was 3”8, 40 pounds who went to a State Exposure Games event. Still 6 years old at the time….
I remember this kid from 2U. He played for the Tampa Bay Bees. He got a lot of exposure playing for the Bay Bees. Every time his diaper came off.
@RJM posted:I was on PGs website and I found a kid who was 3”8, 40 pounds who went to a State Exposure Games event. Still 6 years old at the time….
I remember this kid from 2U. He played for the Tampa Bay Bees. He got a lot of exposure playing for the Bay Bees. Every time his diaper came off.
😂😂. I thought it was a mistake when I first saw it on the event page, until I clicked onto the profile.
@RJM posted:I was on PGs website and I found a kid who was 3”8, 40 pounds who went to a State Exposure Games event. Still 6 years old at the time….
I remember this kid from 2U. He played for the Tampa Bay Bees. He got a lot of exposure playing for the Bay Bees. Every time his diaper came off.
Haha. 😭
It’s a good move if they stick to it and maybe even tighten it up next year to not even allow the 2 exceptions per team. Should slow down the reclass discussions I hear periodically.