Age

You determine at what age level you register. The age level at which you must register is determined based on the age of your oldest player on April 30th. So if your oldest player will be nine years old on April 30, 2009, your 2009 team must register as a 9U team. 

As in the class example below, teams can play up an age level but can not play down, so a 9U team can play in a 10U tournament or league but cannot play at the 8U level.

Similarly, teams can accept younger players but not older players. So a 9U team can accept an eight-year-old but not a player that will be 10 on or before April 30. Teams move up age levels each August 1. So a 9U team becomes a 10U team on August 1.

In this example, assuming your team is going to play at the Select level, you must register your team as a 9U team.

To easily determine the age division of your team, input the age of your oldest player in the BABA age calculator.
Class

A brief explanation of class is below. All teams are Select teams when they first register for Nations Baseball. Nations Baseball then evaluates the team and places it in the appropriate class.

  • Metro: recreational league play teams. These teams are typically teams full of players who register individually and are drafted by a local league; similar to Little League teams. (At this time Bay Area Baseball Association does not offer this level of play.)
  • Select: the entry level to select baseball; these teams typically play 25-50 games a year and are competitive with All-Star-type teams.
  • Elite: more competitive baseball; most of these players have been playing select baseball for several years and are becoming very fundamentally sound and play 50-100 games a year.
  • Premier: the highest level of competition; these teams are formed with the top players in an area. These teams tend to play 75-125 games a year.

Teams can "play up" a class level but cannot play down. For example, if you register as an Elite team, you can play in Elite and Premier tournaments but not in Metro or Select tournaments.

See the player movement charts for a further explanation:

Figure 1

Figure 1

The example in bold shows that 14 Select = 13 Elite = 12 Premier. 

For each age down, the player goes up one class. For example, 11 Select = 10 Elite. Players always have the ability to play in their correct age division, so if the 12-year-old player is qualified on a 14 Select roster and then wants to go back to the 12-year-old division, he or she can do so only on a 12 Premier team. If the player is listed on a 14 Select roster that is not qualified, then he or she can move one class down. (See  Figure 2.)

Hint: Players move straight across the rows if they are moving from qualified teams. Players can move down one row on the chart if they are moving from nonqualified teams.

Note: Players can only play in age divisions equal to or older than their own their roster age.
Figure 2

Figure 2

Using the chart above, if the 12-year-old player playing on a 14 Select team is not qualified, then that player can move down one class (14 Metro) and then move over to the 12-year-old age division and play 12 Elite. 

Important Note for players age 6–9
At ages 6, 7, 8 and 9 there is no Premier class. Therefore, if a 7U-9U Select player plays up two age divisions and then moves back down to his or her age division, instead of becoming a Premier-class player, he or she would be an Elite player (because there is no Premier class in 7U-9U). For example, 10 Select = 8 Elite. See Figure 1.

See the Roster Issues page for more information.