MASON DISTRICT LITTLE LEAGUE DRAFT PROCESS

Majors 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.

DRAFT ATTENDANCE - Each Division Manager, Player Agent, and other necessary board members may attend the draft. Players and assistant coaches 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. Violation of this rule by a Manager is cause for Suspension of the Manager; Violation by the Player Agent or other attendees will result in a Penalty determined by the remaining Board members.

DRAFT ORDER - The Draft Order is established by random selection. 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. Pursuant to Little League Rules, all players League Age 12 will be included in the Majors draft pool and must be selected for a Majors roster (unless a Petition to Play Down is received from the Player’s parents and accepted by the Player Agent or a Player’s participation in the Majors Division is judged to be potentially harmful to themselves or other players (as determined by the unanimous agreement of the Division Managers and with the concurrence of the Player Agent, the Board, and the District 4 Administrator)).

Additionally, for the Majors draft, Players who played in the Majors Division during the prior Spring season will be automatically included on a Majors roster.

To be eligible for the draft in either Majors or AAA, a Player must attend try-outs and be properly registered.

DRAFT POOL CANDIDATES - A list containing all candidates for the Division draft, along with their player number, name, School attending, and Little League age 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 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, the Manager must select the other sibling in the next round, unless the players’ parents have indicated their children may play for other teams. The Player Agent will notify all Managers of the parents’ preference prior to the draft.

•      Manager's own child (children) involved in the Majors Draft must be drafted onto their team by the draft round determined by the Player’s Age, as specified by the Little League Operating Manual (see table below). These provisions also apply for Managers having eligible siblings in the draft. While Little League rules allow the Manager the option to not draft their own child, the MDLL strongly discourages this. A Manager must indicate they will not exercise the option in writing to the Player Agent no later than 24 hours before the draft so that information can be shared with the other Managers.

Source: Little League Operating Manual 2014, pg. 61.

For the AAA Draft, the Player Agent, after consulting with the Managers participating in that Division, will assign the Manager’s children to a Round.

DRAFT LIMITATIONS – Before the draft begins, the Player Agent in consultation with the Board 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 will establish and communicate these rules prior to, or at the start of, the draft selection meeting. 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. No team may

have more than 8, per Little League rules.

◦                      10 year olds: The maximum number of 10 year olds per Majors team is 4.

◦                      Remaining slots on roster may be any combination of ages from those available in the candidate pool.

•      AAA

◦                      10 year olds: Establish minimum number of 10 year olds per team in order to ensure that all 10 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 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 90 seconds 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 90 second window, the Player Agent will assign the player with the next oldest player to that team.

◦                      Teams with two consecutive selections may not combine the 90 second time limits.

•      Teams make their selections by announcing the name of the player. After a selection has been made, the Player Agent will repeat back the name to ensure accuracy.

•      Each following selection will have the same 90 second 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 must be completed in the draft room (i.e. this is the only time trades are permitted). Exceptions to this timing rule requires the Player Agent and President’s approval. All teams in the trade must have the required number of players outlined by the Player Agent prior to commencement of the draft on their respective rosters and no trade is final until the Player Agent approves the trade.