Baseball- 04U Foal (Tee Ball)

FOAL LEAGUE 4U™ is an instructional league to teach three and four-year-old players the fundamentals of baseball and softball by the simplest method possible - letting them play the game. If this purpose is kept paramount, FOAL 4U™ LEAGUE can be a valuable addition to the more formally organized leagues for older players. Emphasis must be on instruction, not on the league championship. 

FOAL 4U™ LEAGUE coaches are allowed on the field to offer instruction during the game. The rules require that players be given the opportunity to try different positions, and that all of them get to play in every game. 

Players in this age range have a short attention span in any single activity and games must move rapidly. Only the basic fundamentals of the game should be brought out. It is not uncommon for players of this age, initially, to be unfamiliar with which is first base, which is third base, and which field is left and which is right. Lack of knowledge indicates merely that the player has not yet been introduced to the game and has no relationship to the player's potential athletic ability. 

Baseball - 06U Shetland (Machine Pitch)

SHETLAND LEAGUE 6U™ is an instructional league to teach five and six-year-old players the fundamentals of baseball and softball by the simplest method possible - letting them play the game. If this purpose is kept paramount, SHETLAND 6U™ LEAGUE can be a valuable addition to the more formally organized leagues for older players. Emphasis must be on instruction, not on the league championship. 

SHETLAND 6U™ LEAGUE coaches are allowed on the field to offer instruction during the game. The rules require that players be given the opportunity to try different positions, and that all of them get to play in every game. 

Players in this age range have a short attention span in any single activity and games must move rapidly. Only the basic fundamentals of the game should be brought out. It is not uncommon for players of this age, initially, to be unfamiliar with which is first base, which is third base, and which field is left and which is right. Lack of knowledge indicates merely that the player has not yet been introduced to the game and has no relationship to the player's potential athletic ability. 

Baseball - 08U Pinto (Player Pitch)

PINTO 8U™ LEAGUE is the first level of Player pitch (40ft distance) an instructional league to teach eight and under players the fundamentals of baseball. 

PINTO 8U™ LEAGUE teams are full members of PONY, receive supplies and the full support of the headquarters staff and Field Director organization. International tournament play is not conducted at these age levels. Leagues may play in regional invitational tournaments, but it is recommended they do so with regular season team rosters. The focus should remain on training more than competition. 

Managers and coaches at this level must be concerned with the development of all of the players on their team. These are training leagues and the development of a player's skill and personality must remain the prime goal of the manager and coach, rather than the winning of a league title. 

Every effort should be made to place every player who registers for the program on a team in these early years, and every effort should be made to play every player on the team in every game.

Baseball - 10U Mustang

MUSTANG 10U™ LEAGUE begins PONY Baseball's belief that rather than change the rules of Baseball to make it possible for young people to play the game, it is more logical to change the size of the diamonds, to adjust them to the physical potential of the players.

Use of diamonds matched to their capabilities permits younger players to play in the same proportionate position as the Major Leaguers and to make the same plays as a Major Leaguer. The double play, the squeeze play, the force play, etc. all become probabilities instead of remote possibilities.

Beginning with MUSTANG 10U™ LEAGUE Baseball, the players are playing real baseball in accordance with The Rules of Major League Baseball as well as specific PONY rules that are in place to supersede the MLB rules where appropriate such as pitching, substitution, re-entry, etc.

With scaled down bases and pitching distances, players react quite favorably to the greater challenge of the game and have little difficulty mastering the transition.

Baseball - 12U Bronco

BRONCO 12U™ LEAGUE is a continuation of the philosophy to fit the diamond to the physical potential of the players.

The bases and pitching distances are scaled up slightly from MUSTANG 10U™ LEAGUE.

The transition diamond used in BRONCO 12U™ LEAGUE, permits infielders and outfielders to select their defensive positions in relationship to the anticipated speed of the ball when they field it.

Without this transition diamond, BRONCO 12U™ LEAGUE players play their position disproportionately closer to the bases, infield and pitcher.

This diamond positions the infielders and outfielders in direct proportion to that assumed by Major League Baseball players and permits the younger players to play the game as it was designed to play.

Baseball - 14U Pony

PONY 14U™ LEAGUE is the transition league that takes players from the "kid" leagues to "young adult" status. It permits a player to play on a diamond tailored to his size and capability rather than being moved to one with twice the playing area in a single year. PONY 14U™ LEAGUE is specifically designed for the player in those very formative early-teen years. 

The vast majority of players of league age 13 simply do not belong on a full-size diamond. At the same time, they have outgrown the dimensions of the "kids baseball" diamonds used in BRONCO LEAGUE and other "12-and-under" programs.

PONY 14U™ LEAGUE was founded for this very apparent reason. After becoming skillful players in the younger leagues, players in their early teens found themselves unable to compete, to play the game of baseball as it was intended to be played, on the regulation size diamond. 

With bases set 80 feet apart and pitchers throwing from 54 feet, PONY 14U™ LEAGUERS play one of the most fascinating games in all of youth baseball. Well beyond the beginners stage, they have mastered all but the finest points of technique and strategy and can play the game with a skill comparable to that of older players, if you let them play it on a field specifically designed to match their physical limitations.