Roster Rule Change

http://www.shelbystar.com/sports/legion-54994-rosters-many.html

How do feel about this rule change? I think it's bad for all the reasons listed in the article: especially if a player gets injured.

 

Terrible.

 

This a rule that will only hurt teams. With most teams being senior laden this will cause numerous problems. Kids who has baseball scholarships and they have to go to summer schools, per their college coach request, injuries, MLB draft and other unforseen reasons. This will be my son first year playing since he was 14 so i am not sure what to expect with legion. I can see as the season progresses that teams will be playing with 9,10 or 11 kids at games and that cannot be good for anyone involved.

 

Everything you said is correct, first before this rule even came about I felt the rosters needed to be expanded to 21 anyway. You always have several players that pitch only, you have injuries and some that quit, and let's not forget beach week. In the past we have brought up Junior players to fill in for the beach week, but no more, so we moved our games out of beach week. They blamed it on insurance, I am sure Mr. Murray chose his words carefully, but staright from the NC comissioner it is insurance driven.

 

I thought Legion was all about letting kids play ball. Guess not. If you cannot change the roster, then season should not start until hs is over.

 

I dont like this rule either,,,,, its going to especially hurt legion teams who have HS teams go far in the HS playoffs, because you have to have your final roster set before the season starts June 1, your going to have "to know" which players are coming out and hold a spot for them. Not fair to the ones who fill the ranks during early games waiting on others to come aboard later. Also you essentially lose a spot if a player commits to play with you, then you hold a spot for him, and then he changes his mind for whatever reason. I dunno.

 

What prompted this rule change? Who do you call/email to voice opinion?

 

Not a rule change. Had not been enforced in NC for whatever reason. Legion baseball exists in many different fashions across the country. For example, Nevada teams are a high school team that just changes who they compete against once the high school season is over. There is not a large amount of teams in the state and they make no bones about the fact that they recruit players for their high school\legion team. Think there were 16 teams in the state of TN last year. Imagine they cherry pick some players over a large area. Just imagine a legion team in NC that could bounce around to schools that may be farther apart. Example... How good could a Rowan Co team be if they pulled all the players from the county and didn't share them with South, K-town & Mocksville?

 

I agree its probably not a new rule, people tend to forget that AL is a national organization and has national guidelines. Of course with any set of rules, people will often "bend" them and thats what happens all the time. I don't know the circumstances behind this particular rule, but I can only imagine commissioners have been allowing flexibility on setting your final rosters for years, because of the length of the HS playoffs. Again, dunno.

I will see if I can find out some history or reason for enforcing it now,,,,, but regardless, it is the rule.

JD, not sure if writing or voicing opinions will do any good here, because I heard this rule come straight out of the big mans mouth himself. I just cant remember if anyone thought to ask questions,,,,,,, there were comments about the HS playoffs, just dont remember any questions.

 

TJ, I was at the meeting, it came down from National Headquarters and Roy Waters quoted it, actually said he did not like it, but had no choice but to accept it. Main reason given was Insurance, but also stated going on-line with all registrations brought it to the fore front. I think you hit the nail on the head by saying some rules were bent, but now with online rosters they can't be bent any longer. I am ok with that, would like to see roster expanded to 21 and be able to bring players up from your Junior team to help out with periods when you have less than a full roster. JMO