Majors, Coast and AAA Divisions

The draft is moderated and presided over by the Player Agent (or a Board officer in their place, as directed by the President). The decisions of the Player Agent are final. Draft rules are in accordance with the Little League Operating Manual, Method in First Year of Operation, Plan A.

DRAFT ATTENDANCE - Each Division Manager may invite one adult guest to assist them with the draft. Player Agent, Commissioner, Division VP and other necessary board members may attend the draft. Players may not attend the draft process at any time.

PLAYER NOTIFICATION - When the draft is complete, trading period ends and the Player Agent has finalized the rosters, all managers will be notified that they may contact the players on their respective rosters. Do not contact any drafted player until you are authorized in writing by the Player Agent. Violation of this rule is cause for Suspension of the Manager.

CONFIDENTIALITY - The Draft is kept completely confidential, including Skills Evaluation results, player draft order and trades. Each individual attending the draft is responsible for maintaining confidentiality of the draft and draft materials. All draft materials must be returned to the Player Agent at the conclusion of the draft. Violation of this rule by a Manager or their invited guest is cause for Suspension of the Manager.

DRAFT ORDER - The Draft Order is established by skill rank, lowest first. This establishes a serpentine order throughout the draft (1-n, n-1). Teams at each end of the order effectively have two consecutive picks straddling the end and beginning of consecutive rounds.

DRAFT POOL - The Draft Pools are established by the Player Agent(s) in consultation with the Commissioner. All guidelines below are adjusted for approved Petitions to Play Down, removing those players from the candidate pool. The following guidelines establish candidate pools:

• MAJORS CANDIDATES:
  • 12-year-olds, unless a District evaluation and waiver have been completed
  • 11-year-olds with approved Petition to Play Up to Majors 
  • 10-year-olds with approved Petition to Play Up to Majors
• COAST CANDIDATES:
  • 12-year-olds with District waiver
  • 11-year-olds who registered for Coast and were not drafted into Majors by petition to Play Up 
  • 10-year-olds who registered for Coast and were not drafted into Majors by petition to Play Up 
  • 9-year-olds with approved Petition to Play Up to Coast
• AAA CANDIDATES:
  • 10-year-olds who registered for coast and petitioned to play down 
  • 9-year-olds who registered for AAA or were not drafted into Coast by petition to Play Up
  • 8-year-olds with approved Petition to Play Up to AAA

DRAFT POOL CANDIDATES - A list containing all candidates for the Division draft, along with their player number, name, School attending, Little League age, skills evaluation scores, pitching rank and composite score, "expected" draft round - sorted into descending order by composite score, will be provided to all Managers prior to the commencement of the Draft.

COACHES - In accordance with Little League rules, there is no pre-selection or assignment of a Coach's child to a Manager. Managers will state their preferred Coaching partner at the draft - and the Player Agent will indicate which round that Coach's player would be drafted in, based on Skills Evaluation results. Managers must draft that player during normal draft process.

PLAYER OPTIONS - Little League rules allow for Player Option arrangements to be made with the Player Agent for specific circumstances including:

• Drafting siblings - once one sibling is drafted an option can be placed on another sibling and the Player Agent will determine which round the Manager must draft the sibling in, based on their overall ranking in Skills Evaluation results.
• Manager's own child must be drafted onto their team by the draft round determined ahead of time by the Player Agent, based on the player's overall ranking in the Skills Evaluation results.
  • The Player Agent will ensure the Manager selects their child by the specified round

PETITIONS AND DRAFT ELIGIBILITY – Players who are requesting to play up must attend a skills evaluation to be eligible for the draft. Players who meet the defined age and are unable to attend the skills evaluation will be anonymized and placed based on blind selection.

DRAFT LIMITATIONS - Rules will establish the minimum and maximum number of players a Manager can select, by Little League Age, for each Division's draft. The Player Agent and Commissioner will establish and communicate these rules prior to, or at the start of, the draft selection meeting. Draft forms will be distributed, which clearly indicate minimums and maximums.

Any Manager in jeopardy of not filling the minimum number of players for an Age will be alerted during the Draft by the Player Agent - and required to make selections to come into compliance with the rule. Should an issue be caught after a selection, the Player Agent may rule that a prior pick be released. The minimum number rule is waived if all players of that age have already been selected. 

• MAJORS
  • 12-year-olds: Establish minimum number of 12-year-olds per team in order to ensure that all 12-year-olds are placed on Majors teams. It is recommended that No team may have more than 8, per Little League rules.
  • Remaining slots on roster may be any combination of ages from those available in the candidate pool.
• COAST
  • 10 and 11-year-olds: Establish minimum number of 10 and 11-year-olds per team in order to ensure that all 10 and 11-year-old candidates for Coast are placed on Coast teams.
  • Remaining slots on roster may be any combination of ages from those available in the candidate pool.
• AAA
  • 9-year-olds: Establish minimum number of 9-year-olds per team in order to ensure that all 9-year-old candidates for AAA are placed on AAA teams.
  • Remaining slots on roster may be any combination of ages from those available in the candidate pool..

DRAFT PROCESS - The draft process will be used for each Division, in the following order: Majors, then Coast, then AAA.

• The Player Agent will call the Draft to order.
• If the draft order has not been determined, a drawing will determine the order.
• All available candidates will be made available for viewing, either on paper or projected on a screen, or both.
  • The first team with a draft pick will have 1 minute to make that selection. The period to make the selection will start when the Player Agent states, "(team name), you are now on the clock."
  • If no selection has been made with 15 seconds remaining, the Player Agent will announce the time remaining in the selection, announcing again at the five-second mark.
  • If no selection is forthcoming at the end of the one minute window, the Player Agent will assign the player with the next highest composite score from the Skills Evaluation list to that team.
  • Teams with two consecutive selections may not combine the 1-minute time limits.
• Teams make their selections by announcing the player number and the name of the player. After a selection has been made, the Player Agent will repeat back the number and the name to ensure accuracy.
• Each following selection will have the same one minute time limit
• All teams must select a player in every round and maintain a full roster at all times during the season.

The ongoing draft selections and remaining available players will be available for all Managers to view.

TRADES - Trades are allowable in the period immediately following the draft until 11:00 PM the following night. To complete a trade, an e-mail from one manager to the Player Agent and cc'ing the other involved manager(s). All teams in the trade must have 12 players on their respective rosters and no trade is final until the Player Agent approves the trade. Trades must be like for like skill levels, along with an explanation of reasons for the trade. 

POST DRAFT - replacements are handled via the Player Replacement Policy