Baseball Age Changes | What You Should Know | USSSA Little League

Little League International and PONY baseball changed the birthday cutoff from May 1st to August 31st. Within Little League, this rule is gradually implemented starting from 2016 through 2019. PONY baseball implemented the change in 2018. See the official announcement via ESPN.

Although both Pony and Little League baseball plan to adjust their baseball birthday cutoff dates, the current plan is to implement the plan on a different schedule. Pony baseball will implement the rule entirely starting in 2018. Little League has a grandfathered scale, which you can read about below. There appears, still, to be some discussion around Pony’s wholesale change, but we have yet to hear anything but a full-scale change come 2018.

Other major leagues, including Cal Ripken, Babe Ruth, USSSA, and AABC, have stated they are NOT changing the age cutoff.

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As Little League is such an influential body, many leagues have followed suit, and even more, parents have been wondering how it will affect their child’s league. Below we attempt to answer the who, what, and why of the baseball age change.

Age Division by Age and Year

Little league is using a graduated schedule to change leagues. Below are the applicable charts for 2018 and 2019.

2018/2019 Baseball Age Change Sources

Several serious publications have covered the age change rules and implications for Little League. Little League’s second announcement on the age change rule is the most authoritative. They are, after all, the group creating all the hubbub. Among other dominant publications, ESPN put together an announcement on the matter, too.  This makes sense considering their Little League World Series is a flagship presentation on ESPN’s late summer broadcast.

We also exchanged emails with a couple of different folks at USSSA corporate offices.

2018 Baseball Age Change Rules

The rule change is simple enough. Age birthday cutoffs for a given year will change from May 1st to August 31st. This rule goes into effect beginning in 2018. In the first year, it will not apply to 12U or said differently. Those born May 1st to August 31st, 2005, can play 12U baseball. Otherwise, expect summer birthday boys to become the youngest on the Little League team, rather than the oldest.

In short, this makes it so no one playing in the Little League World Series, or other major baseball tournaments sponsored by Little League, are 13 years old in a 12U tournament.

The claim Little League makes is that the age birthday change puts them more in line with international age birthday cutoffs. Although wreaking havoc in some circles, the idea does make some sense.

2018 Baseball Age Change Fallout

If Little League International were the only governing body on the planet, this shift would be rather simple. Summer birthday kids could expect to find or create a new team for 2018 and beyond. At a maximum, this would be irritating and inconvenient.

But the problem extends beyond this because Little League is not the only governing body on the planet for youth baseball. Indeed, USSSA, PONY, Babe Ruth, and a host of other competitive baseball groups, including Triple Crown and Perfect Game, use the May 1st birthday cutoff. When teams are created at a neighborhood level, it is not uncommon for teams to play across multiple associations as they are not tied to a governing body. It will now be possible to put together a team that is ineligible in some leagues.

On a somewhat humorous note, there was a petition on change.org gaining signatures against the age change. Apparently, this was even-handed to the Senior Vice President Of Operations of Little League International.

On the whole, we are not opposed to the change even if we think it is much ado about nothing. But the numerous organizations that follow their own set of rules, and the fact many players cross over leagues often, makes keeping track of it and planning for the coming years difficult.

Unaffiliated Travel Ball Teams Age Cutoff

Many unaffiliated travel ball leagues struggle to find a solution, especially as major non-Little League organizations have been rather quiet on the matter. Considering we no less than 10 months out, and many teams formed now are also based on next year’s run, you can expect some anxious coaches and parents.

Babe Ruth Age Cutoff Change

Babe Ruth will NOT be changing their age cut off dates. They made that public on their social media as well as on their age chart.

USSSA Age Cutoff Change

We sent two emails to different people up the chain of command in the USSSA administration. The first, our local Rocky Mountain office, said there had been no official announcement. The second, a national administrator for USSSA baseball based in Phoenix, said, “USSSA will not be changing our current age cut off for baseball.“

However, they also have nothing on their website.

Cal Ripken Age Cutoff Change

Cal Ripken‘s website (here) is a place we often look at. You can also find them on Twitter for updates too. The fact they have made no official announcement makes us think they are simply not changing.

PONY Age Cutoff Change

We have been told that PONY baseball is also changing their age changes to August 1st for the 2018 season. They have yet to put any information on their site, but we were told they announced it at a meeting during the president’s day through the grapevine.