| In most youth baseball leagues, autumn is the | | | | has a manager and coach and their two kids, all |
| time of year that baseball leagues have | | | | the managers and coaches will sit in a room and |
| registration and also assign players to teams. | | | | rate the players and assign ten players to teams |
| Tryouts and the player draft are always one of | | | | one through eight. Once it is agreed that the eight |
| the most interesting times of the year. Some | | | | teams of ten are pretty much equal, throw the |
| managers try to gain an advantage during this | | | | teams into a hat and each manager will pick a |
| time. There is always a scramble to secure | | | | team. The league will have more parity with this |
| assistant coaches. Parents who have experienced | | | | system and this will limit some of the complaints. |
| the process, know that some managers will pick | | | | One word of advice when using this technique is |
| an assistant not according to the assistant's ability | | | | to make sure enough pitchers are part of the ten |
| to coach, but by the ability of his talented child. | | | | players on each team. |
| Another technique done which is highly | | | | The success of a league begins in the autumn. |
| unsportsmanlike is for the manager to discretely | | | | There have been seasons where some teams do |
| suggest to a player to "dog it " during the tryouts | | | | not win a single game. The team assignment |
| so that manager can get a player of first round | | | | process can make for a better year for each |
| ability in the later rounds of the draft. | | | | player individually, as a team and as a league. A |
| There is very little a league can do about a | | | | league that has parity will make for a better |
| manager picking an assistant to secure a spot on | | | | season and in fact will help that league in All Stars |
| the team for his child. Drafting the actual teams | | | | with each player experiencing a competitive |
| can be done in a fair manner. A fair process is for | | | | season with some excellent close games. It is up |
| the league managers and league director to pick | | | | to the league President and league director to |
| each team with similar ability and throw them into | | | | make every effort to make sure each team is |
| a hat. For instance, a league will have eight teams | | | | fairly equal in ability and take away any advantage |
| consisting of twelve players. Assuming each team | | | | that some managers try to gain. |