Warrior Baseball – Little League

Questions? Email us wbakentuck@gmail.com

       Warrior Baseball will be affiliating with Little League only for our 12u (now  Majors) division for the 2025 Spring Season.  To make this change and due to our recent  growth, we are upgrading our kid pitch age divisions into Rookie (9U), Minors (10/11U) and Majors (11/12U).

Important Notes: 

No change to All Star teams except for 12u, where the #1 team will be the Little League team, followed by the Nationals and Americans teams

All 9u players in the new Rookie League – focus on learning to hit kid pitch and throw strikes, closed bases 46/65

All 10u players in the new Minors league – leadoffs and steals in a 46/65 base format

Most 11u players in Minors, with a small number drafted into Majors

All 12u players in Majors, 50/70 foot base format

For majors (previously 11-12u), there is no significant change to regular season format, and only the Little League tournament is played under closed base rules

Coaches:

Registration for Spring 2025 will open Jan 1 for players and coaches. Submit an application to coach early for kid pitch ages. Your application will include which division you would like to coach. All kid pitch divisions will give head coaches the option to freeze two assistant coaches. The number of coaches kids on one team cannot be more than 4.

Summer Birthdays:

Additionally, the age control date for Little League is August 31st, rather than April 30th.  For players born between May 1 and August 31, they will be considered 1 year older by Little league than by USSSA.  This will ONLY impact their eligibility year(s) for Little League.  USSSA all-star team age will be unchanged.  For players born between September 1 and April 30, there is no difference.

Frequently Asked Questions

My son is 5, does this affect me?  What if he was 8u for 2025?

                There is absolutely no change for coach pitch age groups age 7 and below.  For 8u players, those who have a birthday between May 1 and August 31 will have the option to “Age-up” to their Little League age and play in the new Kid Pitch Rookie League.

Why are you changing the kid pitch age groups?

                Last year, we had 28 teams in the two kid-pitch age groups combined.  That’s a lot!  Little League rules limit the Majors/LL division to a maximum of 10 teams.  That would mean 18 teams in the Minors division, which is too many.  Switching to 3 kid-pitch divisions lets the first-year players make the transition and focus on the most important aspects: hitting off live pitching and throwing strikes.  This will better prepare them for future years, where we add in leading off, stealing, and pick-off moves. 

So 9u kids play Rookie, 10u kids play Minors, and 12u kids play Majors.  What about 11u players?

                11u players can make themselves available for the Majors draft.  A limited number of 11u players will be selected in the Majors age group each year.  The exact number will depend on how many 12u kids sign up and how many coaches we have, but the 11u kids drafted into the majors will mostly reflect those that are likely to make an all-star team and particularly the Little League team by their 12u season. 

Is my 11u player guaranteed a spot in the Majors if I want him to play there?

                No.  Most 11u players will play in the minors.  The number of available spaces for 11u players will be known by the Majors draft.  Once the coaches have selected that number of 11u kids, any remaining picks will be 12u players, and any undrafted 11u players will be entered into the Minors draft.

How will this affect All-Star selections?

                11u all-star players will come out of both the Majors and Minors.  The best 11u players in the Minors will be guaranteed a spot on an all-star team.  Additionally, at least one 11u all star coach will be from the Minors division. 

My kid is born in the summer.  How does this affect him?

                Little League has a different age-control date.  This means that anyone born in May, June, July, or August is a year older under Little League rules than USSSA.  This will affect those kids, but only in certain years:

• Kids who would normally play 8u but who have a May-August birthday can skip their 8u season and play Rookie.  This is up to the family.  If they stay in 8u, they will then play Rookie the following year, and Minors the year after that.  If you skip the 8u season, the only difference would be you’d have 2 chances at the Little League team rather than likely once chance at age 12. 
• For 2025, because of the transition, kids born in the summer who would normally have been 11u will only be eligible in 2025 for the Little League team, because they’ll be considered 12u under little league guidelines.  If they don’t make the Little League team, however, they’ll still be eligible for any 11u USSSA All-Star teams.
• Any 12u kids with a summer birthday (May, June, July, August) will not be eligible for the Little League team.  They can still play Majors and they can still make any of the 12u USSSA all-star teams.
• If you weren’t born in May, June, July, or August, there’s no difference under the new system.  You’ll be considered the same age for Little League as your current USSSA age.

That seems confusing?  Do I need to do anything?

                We know it’s confusing, this was probably the hardest part to figure out during this transition.  A couple things can make it easier to understand though. 

1. If you are born between September 1 and April 30, there is NO change. 
2. If you’re not likely to play all-stars, there’s really no need to change anything.  Stick with the same age group you’ve been playing with and don’t worry about it. 
3. The only group it makes a significant difference for are current or at least potential Nationals who have summer birthdays.  Those kids will need to move up at some point so that they are considered 12u kids during their 12u Little League season.  If they stayed with the same age group they’ve been with, they’d be too old during their 12u season for Little League.  That said, they can still play the same USSSA age groups. 

How will I know what options I have based on my kid’s birthday?

                During registration, when you enter your child’s birthday, the appropriate choices will show up as well as some information to help decide.  Again, this is only a potential issue for those with birthdays between May 1 and August 31. 

My kid would be 11u but has a summer birthday.  He’s not an all-star though, so does he have to play Majors?

                No.  There are a few groups of kids based on their age for the Majors group.  Your child would be in group 3, so you can absolutely choose to play him in the Minors. 

Why are you making all the changes?

                Warrior Baseball is always looking for ways to improve our offerings and maintain our status as the premier rec baseball organization in the state of Alabama, if not the entire Southeast.  We explored a number of options, and this opportunity gives our 12u players the opportunity to play for a Little League World Series title and show their abilities to a national audience on ESPN.  Additionally, many of these 12u players have played all-stars for many years under the same format, and this gives them a new goal to aim for after they’ve probably won state and world series titles in previous years. 

Are you going to let a bunch of travel ball players and coaches come back and end up as the Little League team?

                We always want as many high-quality players to play in our league as possible, and this already happens.  We also believe that many of our players who have stuck with the league have improved significantly over the years and can compete with former travel ball players.  The goal is to give our players and league the best opportunity to win championships.  The selection process will still include a vote of the coaches in the league.  We are exploring adding a player voting component as well, but that won’t be fully implemented in 2025.  For the Little League Coach, they will be chosen based on the average of Regular Season results and tournament finish.  And starting in 2026, in order to coach the little League team, they will have had to coach at least 2 Spring Seasons of kid pitch baseball with Warrior Baseball to be eligible to be the head coach.  Every year in kid pitch we have players make the Nationals and/or Americans for the first time after they work hard for it, and we fully expect that to continue. 

Not interested in playing 5 or 6 games in a single day, paying hundreds of dollars in fees, or spending every weekend away from home?  Well, you don't have to. The most competitive baseball league in West Alabama is right here in Northport.  

Think you have to go travel to play in middle/high school?  Think again!  More than 30 players on local middle school baseball teams in 2018 or 2019 played on a Warrior Baseball team as an 11-12 or 13-14 year old.  Dozens of college baseball players, and 8 MLB players got their start right here at Kentuck Park.  

Field #1 - Brown

Field #2 - Kirby

Field #3 - Christensen

Field #4 - Moore

Field #5 - Sullivan

As always, field sponsorships are available if you want your name on the field.

Use the link below to purchase or renew field signs online.  You will be able to upload the design of your sign as part of the registration process (pdf format).