WLL Frequently Asked Questions
What is my player’s Little League Age?
Whatever age your player will be August 31st of the 2024 spring season is their Little League age. For example, if your player’s birthday is in August of 2014, while they will spend the entire Spring Season being 9 years old, they are a Little League Age 10.
What Division does my player belong in?
Little League has suggested ages for each division. However, skill set can also help determine the appropriate division for your player. T-ball is very much an introductory division where players learn the basics of the game and develop a love for the sport. Minors A is a coach pitch division which focuses on skill development and introducing the rules of the game. Minors AA is the first step into player pitch and umpires are introduced. Minors AAA and above play the game directly from the Little League rules. Minors AA and above are all divisions where players are divided evenly across teams by skill. In order to ensure that occurs, all players in Minors AA and above MUST attend a tryout.
Our league is built so that each division builds on itself and introduces your player to different skill sets and fundamentals of baseball knowledge. Once your player enters our program, they should track within the system without skipping divisions. Some divisions may require more than one season to master.
Can we make friend and/or coach requests?
We can honor friend and coach requests TeeBall through Minors A baseball. We ask that you make these when you register your child and suggest only making a couple friend requests that you know your player would like to be placed with. If you make several, we may only be able to honor one or two. Once rosters are released it is very difficult to make changes.
Once your player enters AA/Majors baseball we can no longer honor any requests for coaches or friends. These teams are drafted based on the skills assessments to build rosters with equal skill sets and adequate pitching/catching to promote growth of the entire program and the individual players. Priority shifts from keeping friends together towards building better baseball players. We find that kids that are open to playing for a variety of coaches and with a variety of kids in the younger divisions sometimes find the transition to AA baseball easier.
What is a draft? Why can’t we just keep our teams together in drafted divisions?
As your player gets older and their skill set develops to a place where they can enter the drafted levels of play, it is important that we build those teams with as close to equal skill sets as possible. If the draft is conducted correctly every team should experience wins and losses throughout the regular season.
Towards the end of January WLL will conduct player assessments for all draft eligible players. The coaches of those levels, board members, and volunteers from the greater Wilsonville baseball community will be present at these assessments to assign scores to different skills.
Your player will have the opportunity to warm up with a peer group and then go on to field, throw and hit the ball while being evaluated. This may sound like an intimidating process but the coaches and players keep it a fairly relaxed environment. Everyone there wants to see your player succeed.
The point of these evaluations is not to set some players apart from others, it’s just to inform the draft. Every player that registers to play with Wilsonville Little League (and attends an evaluation for AA and above) will be placed on a roster. We do not cut anyone from our program. However, your player may be offered a different division than they originally registered for.
After all the scores from the skills assessments are recorded the coaches from that division will meet with their player agent and members from the board to conduct the draft. Coaches will select players one at a time until all players are rostered. Sibling sets of the same age are always kept together. Once the teams are formed the Player Agent and President check to make sure that all teams have adequate coaching, pitching, and catching. Sometimes trades are made to even these areas out.
Once teams are posted for Majors, AAA, and AA there are absolutely no changes made to rosters, and no refunds can be issued at that time.
When will rosters and schedules be released?
AA, AAA, and Majors rosters will be released in early March. 50/70 and Juniors are usually released around that time as well. Schedules for those divisions come in two pieces. The March schedule should closely follow the roster release. The rest of the Spring Schedule takes a little longer to finalize as we work with the district to schedule interlock games, and the city/school district to secure all our field usage. We work hard to have the entire Spring schedule for AA and above finalized by the end of March, but sometimes pieces outside of our control keep that schedule from dropping until April.
Tball and Minors A rosters are released around Spring Break every year. We try to give families every opportunity to get their player registered and often find ourselves still recruiting volunteer coaches well into March. We cannot finalize rosters until we have a full coaching staff and know exactly how many teams we can roster. Once rosters are set, we allow coaches to pick their practice days. The full Spring Schedule for these divisions is released a week to two after rosters are posted.
What day(s) will my players practices and games be?
This varies from level to level, and coach to coach. We try to accommodate our volunteer coach’s schedules as best we can by allowing them to pick their practice days. Once that selection has been made your player’s schedule will follow the same weekly cadence for the duration of the season. If practices/games get rained out we try to change location or time, but never both if we can help it.
Where will practices and games take place?
We have use of three main sites throughout the season. Wood Middle School, Memorial Park, and Horizon Christian High School. We will occasionally have use of Wilsonville High School, Dbats Indoor Batting Facility, and the Boones Ferry undercover areas and gymnasiums. Your players will see a combination of these fields during practices and games.
AAA, Majors, 50/70 and Juniors will interlock with teams from throughout our district. Games will be held at home and in surrounding cities. Those schedules will be handed out at the top of the season to allow for planning transportation to and from. The furthest we travel is Tillamook, these are fun games and a good excuse to visit the Oregon Coast. No team will be asked to travel there more than once.
What color pants/belt/socks does my player need?
9 times out of 10 grey pants are a safe bet. Keep your receipt, if your coach decides on white/black pants both Dicks and Big 5 Sporting Goods are great about returns/exchanges. Belt and Sock color will depend on what team your player is on. That information will come in the welcome email from your coach shortly after rosters are released. Jersey and hat will be provided by the league.
What gear does my player need? What gear does WLL provide?
Your player will need their own baseball glove at every level of play. Most players prefer to have their own helmet, but one or two will be provided to every team. In Tball and A there will be bats provided for the team, but as your player grows, they will likely prefer to have their own bat that is properly sized to them. Dicks and Big 5 have knowledgeable staff that can help you find the correct bat size for your player. Catcher’s gear is provided to every team.
WLL has gear available to check out for the season. If you are interested in checking out gear please let your coach know.
My situation has changed and I no longer want to play after registering.
Cancellations after registering but before rosters have been formed will be refunded in full minus the $3 transaction fee. Cancellations once rosters have been formed will be refunded in full minus the uniform cost and the $3 transaction fee.
Who do I contact to resolve an issue or concern throughout the season?
We always suggest that you start with your coach if the question/concern is specific to your player and their skill development. The volunteers that fill these roles do so because they are invested in seeing every player succeed throughout the season. If you don’t feel the problem is being resolved you can contact the Player Agent for your division.
WLL has a large volunteer board, and while we accept any and all questions via Facebook/Instagram and our league web address – each of our volunteers are listed on our website alongside their position. If you have questions about our fundraisers, sponsorships, fields, fee structure – directing your question to the appropriate volunteer may result in a quicker answer.
Still have questions?
If you have been assigned to a team then check with your team's Head Coach. Otherwise, we have a plethora of volunteers who serve on the Board and in various committees which cover every facet of baseball. You can find them all HERE. Check the list and see which person would be most appropriate to provide more information.