It’s important to understand how subbing with another team can affect a player’s eligibility to play at his or her own level. The following are points to consider when players are asked to sub for another team of a different age or class.
Playing on Teams with Unfrozen Rosters
Players are classed by their highest level of play. No player can play down more than one level from their highest level of play on an unfrozen roster. Understanding how the class level system works helps to clarify where players can move.
The TY (this year) and LY (last year) system ranks players according to their age and class. A 10U player that played Metro last season is an LY 11 (age plus one for class). Add two for Select play: LY 12. Add three for Elite: LY 13, and add four for Premier: LY 14. (See Figure 3.)
For example, if an unfrozen 10U Select player (LY 12) subs on an unfrozen 12U Select team, that action makes that player a TY 14. Because the 12U team was not frozen, that player can play down one class (TY 13), but that player is now ineligible to play below the TY 13 class and cannot play on a 10U Select team for the remainder of the season. To play at his or her age level, that player would have to play 10U Elite (TY 13) or 10U Premier (TY 14) baseball.
Playing on Teams with Frozen Rosters
If a player is on a frozen roster, that player cannot play below that age level, except at the Elite or Premier level, according to the chart below.
For example, if a 10 Select (TY 12) player plays on a 12 Select team with a frozen roster or plays with that team in a tournament in which they qualify and become frozen, that player becomes a TY 14 and is now ineligible to play below the TY 14 class and is ineligible for 10U Select or Elite baseball. The lowest that player can play at his or her age is 10U Premier (TY 14).
Players can always play in their own age groups, at least at the Premier level and maybe lower, depending on the level of the teams with which they have played.
Playing on Teams During the Qualifying Season
Some players play on teams during the spring and think that they will be fine the next season: everything starts over the next season. For example, a 10U player plays on a frozen 11U Select team and cannot play below 11U Select or 10U Elite for the rest of the season. However, the next season that player can move back down to Select—unless that player is reclassed. (Remember, the player is now an 11U the next season.)
Let’s say that the 11U Select team the player played with last season did very well at the National Championship and was moved up to 12U Elite the next season. Now (the new season), the player is a mandated 11U Premier player, not an 11 Select player! Because it’s the beginning of the season (not the qualifying season, and rosters are not frozen), this player can play down one level. So the lowest this player can play for the rest of the new season is 11 Elite. Of course, if the player plays up again in the new season, he or she can be reclassed again.
Player Class, Movement, & Grade Charts
The charts below show how players can move between classes.
Taking Figure 1, if a player has been frozen on a roster, that player can only move straight across or up. If a player has played on a nonfrozen roster, that player can move one level down, provided his or her grade from previous play does not prevent play at that lower level (see Figure 3).
Figure 1: Equivalent Class Levels
Take the example used in the Nations Baseball rules, where these charts originate:
See the bold text above. If a 12U player plays on a 14 Select frozen roster, that player can only return to the 12U division in the Premier class.
If that player played on a 14 Select nonfrozen roster, that player could return to the 12U division on a 12 Elite team (one level down). See Figure 2 for an example.
Figure 2: Player Movement
Simply put, the rule is that if you are frozen on a roster, you can move within the same grade (row). If you are not frozen, you can move down one grade. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 3 shows all the divisions with their player grades (TY/LY):
Figure 3: Player Age, Grade, and Class
Using this chart, you can see that a player can move very far up in grade and not be able to come down to the Elite level at his or her own age division. If a 12U player subbed on a 16U select team that was not frozen, that action would make that player a grade 18 who could play down one level to grade 17. Grade 17 in 12U is Premier. (Grade 16 in 12U is Premier also.)
Points to Remember
- A player can always play at the highest class in his or her own age level.
- 9U and below have no Premier class; Elite is the highest.
- Even subbing on a team as the tenth player, sitting the bench, and playing outfield makes that player a player on that team. Nations Baseball cannot determine the abilities of players. At least two people thought that player was good enough for that team and at the very least wouldn’t hurt the team: the coach and the parent. Being on the roster of a team in a certain class makes that player a player of that class.
- Player classifications can and often do carry over into the next season.
