by
posted 02/24/2010 To All FBR Members,
With several feet of snow over the past few weeks and potentially more in the near future, it is hard to believe that it is nearly time for Spring Baseball Season to begin. It won’t be long until the snow is gone and the sound of baseball will be filling the fields around the county. The FBR Board has been working hard to find solutions for the challenging issues facing our league this season. Thanks to mother nature, gym space is at a premium with High School sports programs struggling to complete spring try-outs and other organized sports in the county trying to finish up their seasons. The increased use of the gyms combined with the closing of the indoor baseball facility in Warrenton, has made it very difficult for our league to secure adequate space to do evaluations for the upcoming season. Our preliminary schedule had evaluations scheduled for this past weekend and drafts for the week of March 1st with practices beginning the week of March 15th. Unfortunately, due to many factors, including the weather, we had to cancel our gym time this past weekend and are finding it difficult to find a place with enough space and time available for our needs. With the record amount of snow that has already fallen combined with anticipated weather in the coming weeks, it is very difficult to know when the fields may be playable. Other sports have had to extend their seasons which has limited our access to facilities meaning we can't get the things done we need to get done in preparation for the spring season.
In order to reduce the number of players that need to be seen in evaluations which in turn will reduce the gym space and time needed to complete this process, the FBR Board has adopted the following solution:
Returning Managers from the Spring 2009 season will have the opportunity to continue with the same players that are eligible to play in their Spring 2010 age group. If a Manager is moving up to a new age group, then players from their Spring 2009 roster, who are also moving up to a new age group, will remain on the roster of that Manager, provided that Manager is awarded a team. Managers remaining in the same age grouping from Spring 2009 to Spring 2010, will return all players to their roster who remain in that age group.
If an Assistant coach from the Spring 2009 season cannot move up with their team, they will have the opportunity to become a Manager and continue playing in the Spring 2010 season with any players that are from the same team and age range.
If no coaches from an existing team can become the manager, any player’s parent will have the opportunity to take over the team as Manager if they meet the qualifications. Otherwise, the players will be entered into the draft system.
League Commissioners will have the final say as to how Managers are assigned.
For example:
If your child played for a manager last year that will be returning to the league as a manager, your child will have to option to remain with the manager he/she played with last spring. If you choose not to play with that Manager, you (the parent) can request/email that your child be removed from that team’s roster and be placed in the draft. That manager will not be allowed to draft your child during the drafts. If your manager is moving up and your child is not old enough to move with him/her and another coach or parent from the team does not take over, than that player will automatically go in the draft. To take your player off a frozen roster all you need to do is send a written request to the commissioner of your players league no later than March 5th.
All age divisions EXCEPT T-Ball will have a draft. T-Ball teams are typically assigned by school district.
All players that are eligible for the draft must attend an evaluation session so teams can be drafted fairly.
Teams will be ineligible to draft players until all teams in their age division have an equal number of players.
For example:
Team A has 7 players returning from the spring, Team B has 4 players returning, and Team C has 6 returning.
Team B would draft 2 players to even them up with team C
Teams B and C would draft 1 player each to even them up with Team A
Once all teams have the same number of players, each team will draft 1 player in turn until all teams are balanced
Our intention is to have evaluations the weekend of March 5th and drafts the following week so practices may begin the week of March 15th if weather permits.
We appreciate your understanding in this difficult situation.
Fauquier Babe Ruth Baseball Board
