Expert: Dennis Girardi - 1/20/2009

Question
our group is 10-13 years of age. our bases are 60' and pitching mound is 48', and the question i have is, what is the rule on base stealing for this age group.  because over the last 3 years it seams like the games are just who can steal the most bases. there are a lot of walks and very few hits but the scores are high.  and this is for all the teams not just ours.
are there any way to change it up a little to make it more like baseball rather than basicly basestealing?

Answer
Hey Pat,
The problem is that the 10 year olds should not be playing with the 13 year olds.. 10 and 11 year old players should be playing at 60 foot bases, while 11 and 12 year old players should be playing at 70 foot bases, with stealing.  They cannot compete at this age.. Split the league into 2 leagues.. 10 and 11...and 12 and 13.. This would solve your problem..
Dennis