Baseball – Pinto Tryouts

CSA strives to cater to the needs of each child based on their abilities.  Some kids might be ready to move up from Tee Ball into the Pinto League which is machine pitch.  However, the vast majority of kids are not yet ready to move up.  For years, the policy at CSA has been that six year olds only have the option of playing Tee Ball regardless of their ability.  The Board voted to implement a policy to allow parents of a six year old to apply to “tryout” for the Pinto League if the six year old played CSA Tee Ball the previous year as a five year old.  If a child does not get selected for Pinto League, he will automatically be placed on a Shetland team for the that season.

As for tryouts, the potential Pinto player will go through the same player evaluations the eight and seven year old Pinto players will go through.  The player will have to field the ball, throw the ball and then take a swing at a few pitches from the machine.  The Pinto Head Coaches will all be evaluating each player and will rate each player accordingly.  If a six year old player is notin the top half of the ranked seven year olds, then that player will not be allowed to play in the Pinto League.  If a six year old is ranked in the top half of the seven year olds, then he will be placed into the seven year old draft pool and placed on a team like any other seven year old player.

All six year old potential Pinto players MUST attend this tryout and any six year old that misses Pinto tryouts will automatically be placed on a Shetland team.

Parents should give strong consideration as to whether they want their six year old to tryout for the Pinto League.  Again, Pinto uses a pitching machine set to about 38 mph.  And unlike Shetland, Pinto does not play everyone on the field at the same time.  While we have minimum playing time requirements for each child, your six year old could find himself on the bench more than the other players if he is struggling to compete.

Remember, registering your six year old for the Pinto league does not guarantee he will be selected for Pinto league.  It merely gives him the ability to show up at evaluations and tryout for the Pinto League.

To sum it all up, to successfully be placed in the Pinto league, the six year old player must: (1) have played Tee Ball as a five year old; (2) attended Pinto evaluations; and (3) obtain a rank in the top half of the seven year olds.