2018 RAA Baseball Bat Rules Announcement AWS

2018 RAA Baseball Bat Rules Announcement As you may be aware, Little League of America, USA Baseball, and many other national baseball organizations, have changed their bat standards for the upcoming season, effective 1/1/2018. Since the Riverview Athletic Association (RAA) is not affiliated with any national organization, we are not required to adopt these new standards immediately. For 2018, the RAA will allow players affected by this change, (Manager Pitch, Minors, and Majors), to use both the old standard, (USSSA 1.15 BPF) bats as well as the new standard (USA Baseball) bats for in-house play to lesson the financial impact on our families. It is strongly suggested that any new bat purchases have the USA Baseball stamp as the USSSA 1.5 BPF models may be obsolete after 2018. 2018 will see a new league agreement with the Plum Baseball Association for our teams in minors and majors, and this ruling mirrors how our league will run. For any players potentially playing for an RAA tournament team in 2018, at any of the included levels (8u, 10u, 12u), please know that the bat rules for tournament play, will be dictated by individual tournaments, and may require the new USA Baseball standard. The following are specifics to each age level. Any questions can be directed to [email protected]

Bat Specifications by RAA Division 2018: T-Ball (5/6): T-ball players may use: USSSA 1.15 BPF bats with a “TBALL” stamp Any bat with a USA Baseball stamp Manager Pitch (7/8) / Minor (9/10) / Major (11/12): Rookie, Minor and Junior players may use: 2 1/4 inch barrel bat with USSSA 1.15 BPF stamp (NO big barrels with 1.15 BPF stamp allowed) 2 1/4 inch or 2 5/8 inch barrel bat with USA Baseball stamp Pony (13/14): Pony players may use: 2 5/8 inch barrel bat with BBCOR stamp. Maximum drop allowed is -5. However, a drop of -3 is recommended for players entering high school.