ADMINISTRATIVE RULES

 

AR-1    The Draft

 

1. NSLL recognizes Novato is a small town. Managers and Coaches frequently know players who will participate in tryouts.  While the league understands Managers and Coaches have occasion to speak to players, Managers and Coaches are forbidden from contacting players about their effort at upcoming tryouts.  If a player asks about tryouts, the Manager should answer questions about procedure.  If NSLL discovers a Manager or Coach contacted a player directly in this manner, it will be considered tampering and referred to the Board of Directors and considered grounds for dismissal.

 

2. Number of Teams Required – Prior to the draft, the number of teams drafting in the Minors (A or AA or AAA) shall be determined by dividing the total number of eligible players by the league mandated roster size (see AR-4 below) and then rounding up (e.g., if there are 160 eligible players, a total of 14 teams will be required).

 

3. Timing - Minor League drafts will take place sequentially AFTER the Major League draft has completed. It is recommended they take place one day after the Major League draft.

 

4. Format – Minor League drafts will be a full re-draft of all players available. Since it is a re-draft, Minor League Drafts will use a “snake order” approach where the order is reversed in even rounds and the team with first pick will also have the last pick.

 

5. Minor League Rosters Constraints - Each NSLL Minor team will be limited to the following

 

1. No More than 12 players may be assigned to a single Minor Roster.
2. No Less than 12 players may be assigned to a single Minor Roster

 

6. Manager Options – A manager with a child eligible for Minors may exercise a draft option to select that child for the manager’s team. AAA managers may select up to (1) ‘Coach Option’ and AA managers may select up to (2) ‘Coach Option’ parents/guardians (pending Background Check approval,) and their Minors-eligible children. As set forth in the Little League Operating Manual (Red Book), a Manager Option must be exercised no later than:
   1. 3^rd round -- 12 year old
   2. 4^th round -- 11 year old
   3. 5^th round -- 10 year old.

The round a Manager (or Coach) option is exercised is determined by the League President, with the potential help of an evaluation committee of one or more persons selected by the President with the concurrence of the Board.  The evaluation committee will evaluate and rank all players eligible for Minors (at least through the first 5 rounds) for the purpose of slotting all Manager and Coach Options.  The ranking will be shared with all Minors Managers for the sole purpose of the draft and will have no bearing on other decisions (such as All-Stars). The selection of the Manager and Coach Option will be the closest pick, which corresponds to the child’s ranking. For example, if there are 7 AAA teams, and a player who is a Manager or Coach Option ranks 16, then the Manager or Coach Option will be that Manager’s third round selection.  The evaluation committee may also adjust the overall slotting due to draft order, to assure as much fairness and parity as possible.  Coach options are subject to review by NSLL at any time.  NSLL may implement disciplinary measures if it is determined Coach options are being applied improperly.  E.g. For the sole purpose of acquiring a player, with little or no Coaching involvement.

 

7. Trades – All allowed trades shall involve players only (i.e., no draft picks) and shall take place BEFORE any of the involved players or parents are notified of the team they’ve initially been drafted by. For this reason it is recommended that no trades take place outside of the draft room. Once the managers involved depart the draft room, their respective rosters should are locked for the remainder of the season (assuming no injury changes).

 

8. Notification – The Manager must contact all players within 24 hours of conclusion of the MINOR League draft.

 

9. Practice Slots – Prior to the start of the Minors Draft, the Minors Commissioner shall administer a process by which practice slots for both the preseason and regular season are selected / assigned for each Minors team.

 

1. Confirm Days/Fields Available - Prior to the day of the Minors Draft, the League Scheduler will confirm the practice days and sites available to Minors teams before and during the season.

 

1. Poll the Managers for Method To Be Used - At the opening of the Minors draft, the Minors managers will be polled to determine the preferred method for assigning practice slots for the preseason and the regular season. Two separate votes will be taken, one for the preseason and one for the regular season. The vote will simply ask the Managers to select from one of the two methods below:
   • Reverse Order of Draft / Permanent Slot – In this method, each Manager selects a specific weekly slot (i.e., fixed day, time and location)
   • Assigned / Floating Slots – In this method, the schedule periodically rotates each team to different days of the week, times and/or fields to balance timing and field assignments for each Minors team.

 

AR-2    Team Parents Meeting

Each Minor League manager will hold a meeting with the team's parents prior to the team's first practice.  It is recommended a Board member attends this meeting.

 

AR-3    All Star Team Formation Process – Please refer to NSLL Majors Local Rules for information regarding team formation and player selection for the NSLL 12, 11 and 10 year old All Star teams. Each year the NSLL Board will determine whether to form a team primarily of 9 yr olds with the option of selecting up to three 8 yr olds

 

AR-4    Post Season Play

1. NSLL Playoffs
   1. All Minor League teams will participate in their respective Playoffs.
   2. AAA Double Elimination / AA Single Elimination
   3. Seeding for the playoffs is based on the following:
      • Regular season record (including all intra-league and interleague games)
      • Tie Breaker1: Head to head record
      • Tie Breaker2: NSLL intra-league record only
      • Tie Breaker3: Lowest number of total runs allowed (all games)
      • Tie Breaker4: Coin Flip by League Commissioner.

 

2. City Championship - The 1st place team of the AAA division regular season will meet a team selected by Novato North in a championship series for the City Championship, pending agreement from Novato North Little League. (Most years it is a best of 3 series).
   1. The host team will be:
      • Odd years – Novato South
      • Even years – Novato North

1. In absence of a TOC, the regular season champion will represent NSLL in the City Championship.

 

 

 

 

3. Tournament of Champions - The Novato South Minor League AAA Playoff Champion will represent NSLL in the District 3 TOC.

 

 

AR-5    Hamann Sportsmanship Award Trophy

 

The Hamann Sportsmanship Trophy is awarded to the AAA player displaying outstanding sportsmanship and leadership throughout the season.  The nomination and voting process shall be conducted as follows:

 

1. The entire Hamann Award voting process will be overseen by AAA Commissioner and another Board member designated by the President.
2. Each team will be asked to submit a nomination. The nomination should be decided by a secret ballot including all players, the coaches and manager. The manager will be responsible for overseeing the vote.
3. The award will be determined by a secret ballot cast by each AAA player. No player may vote for a player on his/her team.
4. All nominees will be asked to attend the awards ceremony at Championship Saturday where the overall winner will be announced.

 

AR-6    League Supplied Uniforms

NSLL provides all team jerseys and hats.  Each player is required to wear the league-provided jerseys and hats during all regular season and tournament games.

 

AR-7    Player Injuries

1. A league approved accident form shall be filed by the manager with the safety officer within 24-48 hours of any incident that involves a player injury during either a practice or a game.

 

2. If a player misses more than 7 continuous days of participation for an illness or injury, a physician or other accredited medical provider must give written permission for a return to full baseball activity (Little League Regulation III-d-2-Note 2).

 

3. If a doctor’s note cannot be provided for a player missing 14+ continuous days for an illness or injury, the player may be dropped from the roster and another player obtained through the player agent (per rules defined in the Little League Red Book).

 

7. If a team loses a player due to illness or injury (per AR-7.2) at any point during the season, unless the player provides a doctor note indicating the player will be authorized to return before the midpoint of the season or end of regular season (depending on the point in the season), another player may be obtained through the player agent (following rules defined in the Little League Official Regulations and Playing Rules).

 

4. If a Minor league team loses a player during the last two weeks of the regular season, that player will not be replaced (Little League Regulation III-d-2-Note 1).

 

 

AR-8    Rescheduled Games (Make Up and Continued)

When need arises to reschedule a game to a later date (e.g. rain outs, field closures, darkness or upheld protests), the following guidance will be applied:

 

1. Double Headers will be a last resort, only considered by the Board of Directors if the end of the regular season is near and no other option remains.
2. Each rescheduled game shall be played on the next available Make-Up date available.
3. In order to allow practice slot assignments, the Minors Make-Up Days shall be defined prior to the draft each season by the League Scheduler.
4. If multiple games are queued for rescheduling, each game will be sequentially numbered and played in that order.
5. Rescheduled games take precedence over practice schedules for either

 

 

AR-9    Player Pool

Any Manager not following the Player Pool procedures or acting contrary to its purpose, shall be subject to discipline by Board of Directors.

 

The Board has adopted Little League Baseball Official Regulation V (c) Alternate method of operation (Player Pool) as written with the following exceptions and/or amplifications:

 

1. The Player Pool for AAA will be made up of AA players. There is NO player pool for AA.
2. The Player Agent will create, and run the pool.
3. The list will not be made public to any persons in the League or to players. For transparency the Player Agent will share the list with the League President and Commissioners so long as they do not have a child in that level.  If both have player involvement, then a third unbiased party will be selected from the Board of Directors.
4. The players on the list will be numbered sequentially by order of registration.
5. League Managers/Coaches are forbidden from direct liaison with potential players and parents in solicitation of specific players as replacements for specific games and/or teams.
6. Managers with good reason to believe their team may not be able to field nine eligible players for any scheduled game shall contact the Player Agent as soon as possible and state the reason. Managers may not ask who is in the Pool or who may be next.
7. Upon finding the Manager has good reason, the Player Agent will randomly draw the name of a player in the Pool. Once a player has been drawn from the Pool, his/her name may not be drawn again until all other players in the Pool have been drawn.
8. The Player Agent will handle all contacts with players in the Pool, not the Managers.
9. Minimum play rule for Pool Players is amended to be the entire game regardless of how many players on the regular roster show up. The player is assisting the short team and will play the entire game in the field unless injured.  Failing to abide by this rule may cause the Umpire to declare a forfeiture under Playing Rule 415 (5).
10. Assigned Pool Players may NOT pitch or catch.
11. Assigned Pool Players are limited to 2 innings in the infield.
12. Pool Players must bat at the end of the lineup behind any players on the regular roster.

 

2019 AA & AA Administrative – Summary of Changes:

 

1	AR-3	Formalize 9 year old All Star option
2	AR-7.3	Player injured 14 days before replacement considered.  Up from 7
3	AR-7.4	Player injured at any point in season, not returning before end of season may be replaced
4	AR-8.5	Clarify make-up games may replace scheduled practices times at fields.
5	AR-9.9	Add player pool restriction to no more than 2 innings at shortstop

 

 

2020 AA & AA Administrative – Summary of Changes:

 

1

NSLL Board Approved – December 3, 2019

AR1.6:  Formalized AAA (1) & AA (2) Coach options.  Added provision for NSLL to review for proper use & intent of Coach option

 

2022 Administrative Majors/AAA – Summary of Proposal

 

1	NSLL Board Approved December ‘22	AR-4.2.b:  In absence of a TOC tournament, winner of the regular season will represent NSLL in the City Championship
2	NSLL Board Approved  December ‘22	AR-13:  Player Pool for AAA will consist of AA players