How many outfielders are allowed

[Guest Paul]

How many outfielders are allowed in youth baseball 10-12 year olds in both Little League and Cal Ripken?  We played a game last night that the other Manager put 5 outfielders, including a short fielder, against my 3 better hitters.  Is there a written rule that only allows 3 outfielders.  Playing them tonight again in the final championship series game.

 

Thank you,

Paul

[scrounge]

7

[maven]

Pro rules have the following:

"Except the pitcher and the catcher, any fielder may station himself anywhere in fair territory." 5.02(c)

I'd guess the youth codes built on OBR have a comparable statement.

[grayhawk]

I'm not aware of any Little League rule that prevents a coach from placing his fielders anywhere in fair territory that he feels will be advantageous to his defense.  Granted, we don't have Cal Ripken here in CA, so I have no idea what their rules say.  I suspect that this defensive alignment presents some excellent opportunities for you to take advantage of, especially with your best hitters.

[dookiexman]

The Cal Ripken rules are very similar to LL. Slight modification to OBR. As long as he only has 9 players on the field, except the pitcher and catcher, they can be stationed where the coach directs them. And as @grayhawk says...you should be able to take advantage of a situation with 5 outfielders.

[MichaelG]

Little league is 9 players for majors and up. For minors and below (which could be you 10's perhaps) the local league has an option of 10 players. It is not commonly used and the local league needs to pass a ground rule to use it.

[basejester]

Little League:

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4.01 (d) . . . NOTE 1: In Tee Ball and non-competitive Minor Leagues, all players on the roster may be given a defensive position.

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It would be unusual for a local league to consider a division with any players ages 10-11 to be non-competitive, but it certainly could.  12s can't play in any Minor Division without a waiver from the district.  A team can't play more than 9 in the field in the Major Division.