EBA Perspective on Summer Club Baseball Teams

The EBA is a strong proponent of multi-sport athletes and encourages its players to participate in hockey, football, basketball and any other sports that help develop overall athletic and team participation skills.  While those sports are “in-season”, we support and encourage those players that pursue off-season baseball training through EBA sponsored activities, private instructors or the various club teams that have developed in the area.  Specific to club baseball, we believe it has provided solid opportunities for development of baseball players in the area and support our association players if they choose to have this as part of their baseball development.    

Historically focused on the off-season, club baseball teams have now started to develop and promote programs that overlap with the association baseball season in the spring and summer.  This has the potential to conflict with association practices, games and tournaments throughout the season.  If a player and their parents are considering playing both EBA and club baseball during the association season, we would remind you of the EBA’s commitment policy.  The EBA expects its players, that have committed to play for the EBA, will have EBA activities take top priority during the season.  The commitment policy does not require exclusive time commitment to the EBA, but does require association baseball be a priority for the players that have committed to the program.

The EBA views club baseball as “another sport” in the context of its commitment policy and in the event conflicts arise, EBA baseball should be a player’s top priority.  It is also imperative that if a player elects to participate in club baseball in any manner during the association season, they must keep their EBA coaching staff fully aware of all club baseball activities so overall health, specifically arm management, can be considered for that player.  Please note that if a player is participating in a club baseball team during the association season, his participation on a club team has the potential to have a negative impact as it relates to his playing time on the association team.  Such decisions on playing time for the EBA team, when a player has, and continues to participate in conflicting club team events, will be at the discretion of the EBA head coach and playing time decisions will be supported by the EBA board.

Players and their parents must also keep in mind that participation in club baseball events, and in particular tournaments held during the association season, may jeopardize a players eligibility to continue to play on their association team.  This is based on the rules of the Metro Baseball League (MBL) in which we are affiliated.  For example, most leagues and tournament directors view club teams as AAA teams.  By virtue of participation in a game for a club team during the association season a player may be classified as a AAA player and no longer be eligible to participate on a AA or A team for an association.  This has the potential to adversely impact the individual and the team. 

The EBA views isolated activities for older aged players that are “showcase” or “scout stop” events to be those where a player should discuss the event with their EBA coach, to insure eligibility remains intact and limit disruption to the team, prior to making a decision on participation.  

Please consult with your EBA coach or the EBA VP of Travel Baseball with any questions you may have on the to