2022 90' Diamond Summer Programs (13-16 Year Olds)

NAYB has competitive and developmental summer programs for players Babe Ruth age 13 to 16 on the 90’ Big Diamond.

You MUST register AND go to tryouts to play on a more-competitive D1 team. If you can’t try out you must contact 13+ VP Jeff Buxton [email protected].

Please register here: https://www.northandoveryouthbaseball.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1959487

Summer ball is competitive ball at all levels. All that changes is the skill of the players and the playing rules:

• 13U and 16U  D1 is the most competitive baseball NAYB offers. Only 9 or 10 players bat in the lineup at a time, stricter substitution rules, and no guarantee of playing time, but everyone can be in the batting order at the manager's option.
  
  
• 13U and 16U D2 : less competitive, rules like spring; everyone bats in the order, free defensive substitution, all players get substantially equal playing time. 

Double-rostering from D1 to D2 teams and vice versa is sometimes used in the summer to help NAYB have smaller rosters but still avoid forfeits and manage vacation times. There is no extra charge for this as a double-rostered player may not ever be called to play for the other team.

Summer Managers and Coaches

Please email 13+ VP Jeff Buxton immediately at [email protected] if you want to be considered to manage or coach a summer team.

It is also important know managers are not picked before teams. The level you manage at is determined by where your child is placed. We place the player first at the right level, and then we select a manager from the candidates on that team.

Being willing to manage may affect player selection if the player is isn’t an obvious choice for Competitive or Recreational. Managers have chosen to have their kid play on a Recreational team so it has a good manager, and never once the other way around.

Summer Baseball – and why it’s DIFFERENT than Spring

Summer baseball is a little different than spring baseball. Yes, like spring no one gets cut. But, there are some important differences.

In summer there’s more competitive baseball. We have a try out so every player ends up on the right team for their age and skills and to make sure all teams can compete at the level they play. That’s best for your child’s development both as player and a person.

The NAYB Player Selection Committee picks the teams. Player Agent (Jack Gaffny), 13+ VP (Jeff Buxton), managers, coaches, umpires, Board of Directors members, and other independent baseball experts who know the players are on the Committee.

The Committee’s goal is to announce the teams on June 1st, or shortly afterwards.

We make every effort to place your child in exactly the right place for them. Winning games is a close second, but secondary nonetheless.

But it’s also important all teams can compete in their league, so we make sure each team has good players at each position, especially pitcher and catcher.

We also balance your child’s developmental needs. It does your child no good to make a higher-level team and ride the bench all summer, not pitch if primarily a pitcher, not catch if a catcher, etc.

Doing what’s best for everyone is a difficult and delicate balance, so we use all the data we have: not just the try out. We know a try out is a small sample of what your child can do. So, we use try out data, spring manager evaluations, evaluations from umpires, and any other objective data we can get our hands on.

No decision is made lightly. All decisions are made with careful consideration for what is best for your child first, and what’s best for the team second.

The D2 Program

The D2 program is not an afterthought, it’s an important part of our program – it keeps kids playing baseball and developing their skills. Without it there wouldn’t be a place for many kids to keep playing. Where would they get the chance to develop and make the team they dream of playing for ?

In order to further that development, attention is paid to making sure that the D2 program gets good coaching. In fact, the VP has coached the D2 team many times, including in 2021. It's not an afterthought.

Maybe your child is a little behind his peers in his physical development and just needs a little time to catch up. Maybe he hasn’t played much baseball so his skills aren’t quite developed enough. Maybe he pitches but there’s no spot for a pitcher on the Competitive team, so the Committee put him in Recreational just so he can work on his pitching and advance to the next level.

Whatever the reason, if Recreational is what’s best for your child, it's is still good baseball, so encourage your child to make the most of the opportunity.

Many D2 players have done just that and made high school teams and beyond. 6 of the 11 Seniors including 3 starters on the 2011 NAHS Varsity played at least a year in BDSL. Some have played college baseball, and some even had a pro tryout.

PLAY BALL !

The D1 teams may have practices while the spring season is still playing, so be prepared for that level of commitment. D2 will start practice when spring ends.

Is it possible the player selection committee could make a mistake or two in placing a player ? Yes, because that happens; we are imperfect people working with imperfect data.

Will we address these mistakes if we can ? Yes, if we can; we have always done so in the past, but it’s been rare.

So, now that you know summer ball is a bit different please register ASAP and let’s PLAY BALL!