Parents, players and coaches,
First, I want to thank each of you for an amazing Spring season of baseball. We had incredible enrollment, the rain cooperated for the most part, and some really good baseball was played.
What’s next? More. Baseball.
For a third year in a row, we are going to offer another fun, exciting season of Fall Ball!
It will be a little different than the Spring season. For Fall Ball we use a “coach brings their own team” format vs. open registration/tryouts. If you are familiar with the St. Matthews Basketball league, it’s essentially like that. If you’re not, the format is simple. Folks who are interested in coaching can recruit and field a baseball team, register and enter them as a team in the league, the coach will send out a special code to his/her parents via email, parents use that code when completing their registration/paying their fee, and their son/daughter will be automatically placed on the coach’s team.
Or, another option, if a child wants to play but doesn’t know a specific coach, we will keep your son or daughter as a “free agent” and will randomly assign them to a team if a spot is available. This will be a short list, and we will do our best to place every free agent, but due to space limitations it is first come first served so PLEASE don’t wait to sign up!
Also, PLEASE NOTE that unlike the Spring, in the Fall we cannot and do not honor coach and/or friend/player requests with either option. Fall Ball will simply be based on whether space is available on a team, and then assigning free agent players to that team.
*** Registration for the 2022 Fall Season OPENS next Friday, July 15, 2021 at 8:00 a.m. on our website which you can find HERE***
Age Cutoffs and Playing Up
In Fall Ball we use the same age cut off that we did for Spring so kids are able to play with the same age group/division that they did in the Spring. However, for most divisions your child may “play up” a division to the next age group. I say in most cases since there is one exception here: we typically do not play an 8-year-old up to 9/10 kid pitchunlessyour son/daughter played Spring 8U machine pitch or played organized 8U machine pitch with another league in the Spring. This is purely for safety reasons. We don’t want a kid’s first experience with kid pitch to be Fall Ball unless they can protect themselves, which a season of 8U machine pitch prepares them for.
If you want your child or team to “play up,” the system should provide that option at sign up by showing their current age group and the next age group above that for which you can choose. By playing up you acknowledge that your son or daughter can protect themselves at all times while on the field, and that they are capable, athletic and knowledgeable enough to play at the next level. If the system does not provide you the option of the next age group, your son or daughter is too young for the next age level per the Babe Ruth age chart.
If you need to determine your child's current age group, please consult the 2022 Babe Ruth Age Chart HERE.
Head coaches, beginning July 15, 2022 simply log in to your St. Matthews account, register as a head coach for 2022 Fall Ball, and then you can control team invites from the comfort of your own home! Or, read THIS too. It helps. Scroll about mid-way down to the"Steps for Coaches to Register" section.
Here are some additional details about the Fall Ball season:
There will be 6 divisions, and all players will be provided a jersey and ball cap:
1. Wee/Tee (4 and 5-year-olds) – PRICE $135 per player
- Age: 4 and 5 combined
- Games played on Weinberg Field (with possible games on Voll Field @ Trinity Stadium)
- Regular season begins 9/12, ends on or before 10/29, no post season tournament
- Approximately 8-10 games
- Bring your own team or sign up as a single player (again, no coach or friend requests in the Fall)
- Players/Coaches can decide if they want coach pitch or to hit from the tee
- 1-hour games OR first 30 minutes devoted to a joint practice followed by a 2-inning game (approximately30 min)
2. Coach Pitch (6-year-olds) – PRICE $135 per player
- Age: 5 to 6
- Games played on Weinberg and Matanich Fields
- Regular season begins 9/12, ends on or before 10/29, no post season tournament
- Approximately 8-10 games
- Bring your own team or sign up as a single player (again, no coach or friend requests in the Fall)
- Coach pitch or hit from tee after 5 pitches
- Outs are not kept for purposes of the side, but base runners will be called out and will return to the dugout on a batted ball resulting in an out, a force out, or a tag play.
- 1-hour games OR first 30 minutes devoted to a joint practice, followed by a 2-inning game (approximately30 min)
3. 7U Machine Pitch – PRICE $185 per player
- Age: 6 to 7
- Games played on Matanich or Siegel Field
- Regular season begins 9/12, ends 10/22, followed by post season tournament
- Approximately 8-10 games, season ends with seeded single elimination tournament
- 1 hour 15 min game
- Bring your own team or sign up as a single player (no coach or friend requests)
- No more than 6 travel/club players per team
- Score will be kept along with wins and losses
4. 8U Machine Pitch – PRICE $185 per player
- Age: 7 to 8
- Games played on McCandless or Siegel Field
- Regular season begins 9/12, ends 10/22, followed by post season tournament
- Approximately 8-10 games, season ends with seeded single elimination tournament
- 1 hour 15 min game
- Bring your own team or sign up as a single player (no coach or friend requests)
- No more than 6 travel/club players per team
- Score will be kept along with wins and losses
5. Minors Kid Pitch – PRICE $185 per player
- Age: 9 and 10 combined
- Games played on Siegel or Look Field
- Regular season begins 9/12, ends 10/22, followed by post season tournament
- Approximately 8-10 games, season ends with seeded single elimination tournament
- 1 hour 30 min game
- Bring your own team or sign up as a single player (no coach or friend requests)
- No more than 6 travel/club players per team
- Score will be kept along with wins and losses
6. Majors Kid Pitch – PRICE $185 per player
- Age: 11 and 12 combined
- Games played on Look Field
- Regular season begins 9/12, ends 10/22, followed by post season tournament
- Approximately 8-10 games, season ends with seeded single elimination tournament
- 1 hour 30 min game
- Bring your own team or sign up as a single player (no coach or friend requests)
- No more than 6 travel/club players per team
- Score will be kept along with wins and losses.
Teams
-We will need at least 5 teams per division at a minimum to play.
-Coaches can select/recruit up to 12 kids for a team in any division (with no more than 6 travel/club baseball players).
Practices
The park will be "dark" the week of August 22ndso that we can clean, do some maintenance, and get things ready for Fall Ball.
We will have equipment pick up, coach meetings and other pre-season prep during the week of August 29th. More info to come.
Practices will be held the weeks of August 29 and September 5. More info to come on that as far as sign ups with Dan Cook. PLEASE NOTE this ONLY applies to those two weeks. Once games get underway on September 12, we will do our best to accommodate a practice schedule but depending on the number of teams, other tournaments we host, and club/travel ball held at the park, it may not happen. Please consider finding space or locations outside the ballpark to practice. Legends Academy in Louisville has a great indoor facility.
Games
We will start September 12th, approximately two games per week.
4/5 and 6 (Wee/Tee/Coach Pitch) games on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. The younger divisions are usually large, so they may have some Friday evening and/or Saturday morning or afternoon games (but I do try to minimize this).
7 and 8 Machine games on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, with a possible Friday and/or Saturday thrown in.
Minors and Majors games likely on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
Spread the word! Coaches, get your teams formed! Fall Ball is right around the corner.
If you have any questions please look on our website as there is a wealth of information there under our FAQ's and other sections. You can also contact Dan Cook at[email protected]or me at stmatthewsbaseballleague@gmail.com
Thank you for your support of St. Matthews Baseball, and see you in the Fall!
Chris Gadansky
Executive Director, St. Matthews Baseball