Once the showcases are finished, the managers for the Majors Division will get into a room and in a serpentine round robin fashion select players until all the teams are filled. A week later, the Minors managers will do the same thing. On Friday after each draft the teams will be posted online. Once teams are announced they may begin practicing immediately.
- Show Case 1 – Players demonstrate their abilities (2/4)
- Show Case 2 – Players demonstrate their abilities (2/9)
- Majors Draft (Feb 15 – skipping Valentines Day)
- Majors Players announced (Feb 17)
- Minors Draft (Feb 21)
- Minors Players Announced (Feb 24)
Farm Players are announced AFTER the drafts are finished, usually but not always a week after the Minors draft – about Mar 2nd.
To learn more about the draft follow the jump.
How the Draft Works:
This year both the Minors and Majors draft using the same serpentine method. The team with the first pick in the first round will have the last pick in the second round, then back to the first pick in the third round. The draft proceeds in this fashion all the teams have met the ideal number of players. Managers sons’ are protected until the third or fourth round depending upon the player’s age.
Because the number of teams is dependent upon the number of sign ups and the ages of the players signing up it is difficult to project how many teams will be in minors and majors until the day of the draft.
Our goal is always to maximize participation in the league. As many kids playing as much baseball as possible. Little League continues to be the only community based baseball program in South Tempe where everyone gets to play with (and against!) their friends.
The draft ensures a fair distribution of all players and prevents “stacked” teams from dominating the league. Parity and competitive balance is a very high priority.
What is new this year is that by Combining with Tempe Rio Salado, the Minors and Majors leagues will be stronger with more teams which should result in a better experience for everyone. This means however that for the very first time Majors players will be drafted onto new teams. In the past the Majors players stayed with their teams until they “aged out”, but this year all players will be redrafted.
