Pasadena American Little League Team Formation and Draft Policy

This document aims to provide more clarity for players, parents, and coaches around the expected age/skill level for each division. Because Little League allows for overlapping ages to be part of different divisions, level of skill and safety are also considered. This draft policy will clarify why/how a player might be pulled up a level beyond the expected age range or kept within that age range. The objective is to ensure that all players are in the proper division to get adequate playing time at various positions to continue developing their skills.  

The draft process is nuanced, so parents are encouraged to reach out to the league’s Player Agent(s) if they are considering that their player may be “moving up” or “staying down” in a particular division as soon as possible. Once a player has been drafted or placed onto a team, no requests for roster changes will be considered.

 Tee Ball (ages 4-6) – Tee ball is meant for kids first learning to play baseball. Kids will hit off the tee and eventually will hit with some coach pitch.

 Farm (ages 7-9) – Farm is the first introduction to kid pitch (half of the season). Players should leave the Farm level able to throw, catch and hit, ready to move to the AA level. The league will conduct a farm draft to determine the placement of players onto a team. This division will allow a player to ask for a specific coach or to be on a team with a particular player.

AA (Ages 8-10) PALL recommends forming teams with league-age 9/10 players for better competition and development among teams.
- At Age 8, players may be drafted up to AA if they played Farm the prior year or fall ball season
- Player Skills Evaluation score will be compared to the other Players in the AA draft.
- The Player Agent will approve all players eligible for the AA draft with the consultation of the mangers.
- Those not drafted at the AA division become eligible for the Farm division. 

AAA (Ages 9-11) – PALL recommends forming teams with league-age 10/11 players for better competition and development among teams.
- At Age 9, players may be drafted up to AAA if they played AA the prior year or fall ball season
- Player Skills Evaluation score will be compared to the other Players in the AAA draft.
- The Player Agent will approve all players eligible for the AA draft with the consultation of the mangers.
- Those not drafted at the AAA division become eligible for the AA division. 

Majors (Ages 10-12) PALL recommends forming teams with league-age 11/12 players for better competition and development among teams.
- At Age 10, players may be drafted up to Majors if they played AAA the prior year or fall ball season
- Player Skills Evaluation score will be compared to the other Players in the Majors Draft.
- The Player Agent will approve all players eligible for the AA draft with the consultation of the mangers.
- Those not drafted at Majors become eligible for the AAA draft.
- At Age 11, all players who choose Majors during registration are eligible for the Majors draft if they played AAA the prior year or fall ball season
- Players scoring in the top 75% of skills assessment rankings who choose to register for AAA will be contacted and encouraged to participate in the Majors                  draft.
- Those not drafted at Majors become eligible for the AAA draft.
- At Age 12 all players are expected to participate in the Majors draft, unless a petition to play down is submitted to the Player Agent due to safety concerns.

Intermediate (Age 13) - PALL recommends forming teams with league-age 13 players for better competition and development among teams.

Juniors (Ages 13-14) – for better competition and development among teams, PALL recommends teams to be formed with league age 14 players and any 13-year-old players approved by the player agent with the consultation of the managers.