Evaluation Day for Kid-Pitch Baseball AA Division – Sunday, Mar. 2nd, 2025

The 2025 Kid-Pitch Baseball Evaluation Day for AA will be held Sunday, March 2nd on the turf field at Robert Eaglestaff Middle School.  We ask that ALL Baseball players of Little League age 8 or 9 attend (your 2025 LL Baseball age is your player's age as of 8/31/2025).

For those Baseball players who are LL Baseball age 8, the league will provide guidance after Evaluation Day on whether your player is ready for AA (introductory Kid-Pitch, which is a mix of Kid-Pitch and Coach-Pitch) or should play one more year of A (Coach-Pitch).  Please note that Evaluation Day DOES potentially include LL Baseball age 8 players who are currently registered for A Baseball (Coach-Pitch).  That said, if you know for certain that your LL Baseball age 8 player (DOB 9/1/2016 – 8/31/2017) is not quite ready for AA, you can skip Evaluation Day and remain in A for this season.  But please know that each year we do have players register for A, attend Evaluation Day, and get moved to AA.  Similarly, we have players LL age 8 who register for AA and, after Evaluation Day, get moved to A to play one more year.  Player’s baseball skills and physical growth develop at varying rates from ages 8-10 in particular, and we all appreciate that September birthdays are 11 months older than August birthdays, which can make quite a difference.  Also, some players do a lot of extra work on their own in the Summer.  Anyway, typically about 40-45% of our LL age 8 players play AA and 55-60% play A.  If you do not hear from NWSLL within 48 hours or so after Evaluation Day, you should assume that the division you originally registered your player for is confirmed as correct.

We hold our Evaluation Day rain or shine…this is Seattle after all!  That said, Winter weather is often cool, breezy, and/or damp, so please have your players layer up!  And for players who have batting gloves, remember to bring them to make the hitting portion more enjoyable.

Evaluation Day is an important start to our Kid-Pitch calendar.  Players will be asked to take turns fielding, throwing, and batting.  NWSLL officials and coaches attend the evaluations in order to meet the players, and to get to better know each player's skill set.  We understand that many players will be rusty, and new players are inexperienced.  Please let your player know that many players will be a bit nervous, but that's OK.  We'll be there to support and encourage them!

The purpose of player evaluations is to place each player in the appropriate division, as well as create/draft teams that are equally matched in terms of experience and skill. Players who don’t attend are still placed on a team.

This year we have large numbers of LL age 8 and 9 players, many of whom will be attending their first Evaluation Day.  To help break the day up into smaller and more efficient sessions, we have created the following five groups.  Please plan to attend your assigned session.  But if you have a hard conflict (e.g., youth basketball game), your player may attend another session.  Try to pick an alternate session of similar-age players.  We ask that families only do this if truly necessary, since it is easier for us to compare like-age players when we see them together at the same time.

AGE 8 BASEBALL (Group 1) - Players born 5/1/2017 - 8/31/2017
AGE 8 BASEBALL (Group 2) - Players born 12/1/2016 - 4/30/2017
AGE 8 BASEBALL (Group 3) - Players born 9/1/2016 - 11/30/2016
AGE 9 BASEBALL (Group 4) - Players born 4/1/2016 - 8/31/2016
AGE 9 BASEBALL (Group 5) - Players born 9/1/2015 - 3/31/2016

SUNDAY, MAR 2 – ROBERT EAGLESTAFF MIDDLE SCHOOL SOFTBALL FIELD

What should players bring?

Players will be running, fielding, throwing, and batting.  If at all possible, they should wear baseball attire, including baseball pants or sweats and athletic shoes or cleats.  Players should also bring a glove and water bottle, and boys should wear a protective cup.

Many players use their own helmets and hit with their own bats.  But the league will have some batting helmets and bats on hand.  There may also be limited extra gloves available to borrow.

What happens next?

After Evaluation Day is complete, NWSLL officials and coaches will work to determine divisional placements.  Families will be contacted to discuss any divisional transfers that are necessary.  NWSLL officials and coaches will then create the AA teams.  Everyone gets placed onto a team, even players who cannot attend Evaluation Day.  A primary goal of the overall process is to create balanced teams.

The AA teams should expect to practicing on Saturday, March 8th.  Games will begin in early April for AA.  The A (Coach-Pitch) division will have teams formed in mid-March, with play starting in mid-April.