- Jun 5, 2023
- 6
- 3
I am wondering what sort of guidelines other towns/leagues have to prevent team stacking for rec ball. I read a couple of other threads and see that it's a fairly common problem. I would like to hear what you have seen implemented that has worked (as well as can be).
We are in a multi-town rec league. What we've seen is towns essentially create an all star team with two other teams who's best player is worse than the primary team's worst player. It's frustrating because we destroy these other teams, neither teams involved in these games are having much fun. Then, conversely we can also get destroyed by the all star teams, again, not much fun for either team in non-competitive games.
The league has rules against this practice such as travel ball player/involvement limits and requiring travel ball players to be split evenly. It seems to not really be enforced... adults want their kids to have rec ball trophies.
I have a couple thoughts that I want to bounce off the forum to see how feasible you think they are. Or, if you have things you have done/seen done with success or tweaks you would recommend. Our area now has low participation rates for older girls because of this and other things (not rotating, forcing poorer batters to bunt/slap instead of developing them, etc.). Maybe it's a pipe-dream but I would love to see larger agencies (ISAA NSA) recommend reform around these things.
1. Create a point system based upon previous year stats and have roughly equal points among a towns players. I think with Game Changer frequently used it should be possible to look at batting stats like slugging, OBP, errors, ERA etc. from the previous season to divy up girls.
2. Force mid-season trades based on records (I imagine granting 4 players protection but allowing you to pull other girls like when pro teams with expansion drafts while sending some girls back).
3. Banning any towns that have allowed obvious stacking from tournaments.
4. limit of one bunt in fair play per girl per game
5. Require travel girls to play one outfield inning per game
I'd love to hear feedback and ideas. Thanks everyone. (This is my first post but I've read the forum all the time. The people here are great. I know the focus is mostly on travel but poor rec ball is possibly one thing holding the sport back).
We are in a multi-town rec league. What we've seen is towns essentially create an all star team with two other teams who's best player is worse than the primary team's worst player. It's frustrating because we destroy these other teams, neither teams involved in these games are having much fun. Then, conversely we can also get destroyed by the all star teams, again, not much fun for either team in non-competitive games.
The league has rules against this practice such as travel ball player/involvement limits and requiring travel ball players to be split evenly. It seems to not really be enforced... adults want their kids to have rec ball trophies.
I have a couple thoughts that I want to bounce off the forum to see how feasible you think they are. Or, if you have things you have done/seen done with success or tweaks you would recommend. Our area now has low participation rates for older girls because of this and other things (not rotating, forcing poorer batters to bunt/slap instead of developing them, etc.). Maybe it's a pipe-dream but I would love to see larger agencies (ISAA NSA) recommend reform around these things.
1. Create a point system based upon previous year stats and have roughly equal points among a towns players. I think with Game Changer frequently used it should be possible to look at batting stats like slugging, OBP, errors, ERA etc. from the previous season to divy up girls.
2. Force mid-season trades based on records (I imagine granting 4 players protection but allowing you to pull other girls like when pro teams with expansion drafts while sending some girls back).
3. Banning any towns that have allowed obvious stacking from tournaments.
4. limit of one bunt in fair play per girl per game
5. Require travel girls to play one outfield inning per game
I'd love to hear feedback and ideas. Thanks everyone. (This is my first post but I've read the forum all the time. The people here are great. I know the focus is mostly on travel but poor rec ball is possibly one thing holding the sport back).