Tryouts

Player Tryouts

  • Approximately 500-600 players will register for West Raleigh Baseball Association each season.  Check to see if you need to attend tryouts here: Tryout Matrix for Fall or Tryout Matrix for Spring
  • Tryouts are held at the West Raleigh facility at 830 Barringer Drive, Raleigh, NC 27606.
  • Tryout schedules are posted on the website a week prior to tryouts and emailed to all registrants.  A participant must be registered to attend tryouts.
  • Typically spring tryouts are on a Saturday in February and fall tryouts are in August. If for some reason you cannot attend the tryout date, you may submit a video to the league for consideration by the specified date (varies from season to season but is noted in the tryout email from the league).  All efforts should be made to attend tryouts as this is the best way for coaches to evaluate players.
  • New-to-league players who do not attend tryouts will NOT be eligible to be drafted.

What to Bring to Tryouts

  • Birth Certificate - if you are new to the league or played MCP and are moving up, you must bring a copy of the birth certificate so we can verify birthday
  • Glove
  • Batting helmet
  • USA stamped bat
  • Bring your own catcher's gear

What to wear

  • Baseball pants
  • Baseball hat
  • Cleats
  • Protective cup

******* West Raleigh does not provide any equipment for tryouts. ************

What to Expect at Tryouts

Players will demonstrate the following:

  • Fielding (ground balls and pop-ups)
  • Throwing
  • Catching a ball at first base from another player
  • Hitting (5 pitches are given from a coach)
  • Running
  • Minor and Major league players: given opportunity to show pitching and catching skills (not required) at the end of their tryout time

If you cannot attend tryouts, you may make a tryout video. Please include the items above and email it to the League 2 days prior to when tryouts occur. This will allow coaches to watch these videos before tryouts.

What are coaches looking for?

  • Good technique in getting in front of the ball
  • Accurate throws
  • Being able to catch a ball properly
  • Good swing
  • Players speed and quickness, hustle and demeanor (e.g., if they miss a ball, they just get ready for the next play)

While a child might not perform perfectly at every drill, their attitude and resiliency are evaluated throughout the tryout.  Head coaches and their coaching staff, evaluate the players and then rank them according to their team needs for the draft.

Guaranteed Spot Rules

Fall Season

  • Players are guaranteed a spot on a team if they played at West Raleigh Baseball the prior Spring or Fall season on a Rookie, Minor, or Major league team in the corresponding League.
    • If a player has played only a Fall season on a Rookie, Minor, or Major league team they are considered a guaranteed spot for ONLY the Fall season within that League.
  • All players aging out of Leagues will not have a guaranteed spot.
  • New-to-West Raleigh siblings that are 8 years of age or older are NOT guaranteed a spot on a West Raleigh team if they have a sibling who has a guaranteed spot in the Fall season, registers, and plays that Fall.
  • New-to-West Raleigh guaranteed siblings that are 5 years old in the Fall season are NOT guaranteed a spot but are eligible for the Modified Coach Pitch (MCP) League.  MCP is done on a first come, first served basis.
  • Siblings of MCP players of any age are not guaranteed a roster spot in any league.
  • Players that played MCP the previous fall or spring and are returning to MCP are not guaranteed a spot in the Fall and must register on a first come, first served basis.

Spring Season

  • Players are guaranteed a spot on a team if they played at West Raleigh Baseball the prior Spring season on a Rookie, Minor, or Major league team in the corresponding League.
    • If a player has played only a Fall season on a Rookie, Minor, or Major league team they are not considered a guaranteed spot for the Spring.
  • All players aging out of Leagues will not have a guaranteed spot.
  • New-to-West Raleigh siblings that are 9 years of age or older are NOT guaranteed a spot on a West Raleigh team if they have a sibling who has a guaranteed spot in the Spring season, registers, and plays that Spring.
  • New-to-West Raleigh guaranteed siblings that are 6 years old in the Spring season are NOT guaranteed a spot but are eligible for the Modified Coach Pitch (MCP) League.  MCP is done on a first come, first served basis.
  • Siblings of MCP players of any age are not guaranteed a roster spot in any league.
  • Play in West Raleigh's Fall Baseball program does not guarantee a roster spot in the Spring program.
  • Players that played MCP the previous fall or spring and are returning to MCP are not guaranteed a spot in the spring and must register on a first come, first served basis.

Player Spot Availability

West Raleigh is a vibrant and growing league with 500-600 registrants a season.  Unfortunately, we do not have space to draft everyone that registers for tryouts.  The number of new players drafted each season varies and is based off of the number of guaranteed spots filled.

Draft Process

For each league, the coaches draft players in the inverse order of finish from the prior year's regular season, so the team that finished last will draft first and so on. By the time of the draft, each league will know how many new-to-West Raleigh players can be drafted, and once the specific number of new players are drafted, all subsequent draft picks are from among the players who are guaranteed spots based on prior play in the league or siblings in the league (Rookie). When the numbers of teams in a league is increased or decreased, normal draft rules may be supplemented to try to ensure fairness.

Draft Notification

The player draft happens the day after tryouts.

Coaches notify players within two days of the draft. The coach will introduce themselves and let the player (or parent) know when and where the first practice will be held, and what the expectations for players on the team will be.

A team's first meeting usually occurs the week following the draft.

If a player has not heard from a coach within 4 days of the draft date, the likelihood is that they were not drafted. An email will come from the league informing players if they did not make it.  The tryout fee is non-refundable.