Can a player re-enter the game in youth baseball?
In high school, Little League, USSSA and Perfect Game, a starter can re-enter once in his original batting spot, but a sub who comes out is done (Little League has its own wrinkles). A pitcher who re-enters can play anywhere but the mound, except in high school.
Re-entry is one of those rules where the answer depends on a single detail. Was the player a starter? Say you pull your shortstop in the fourth to get a sub some innings. It’s a tie game in the sixth, and you want him back. Can you?
If he started the game, you can do it. In high school, Little League, USSSA and Perfect Game, a player who started can be taken out and put back in one time. He has to go back into his original spot in the batting order, though he can play a different position when he returns. Once he’s been removed a second time, he’s done for good. In Little League, the sub has to get his required playing time before the starter comes back.
A substitute who comes out of the game can’t come back.
This is the half people miss. The player who came in for your shortstop is a sub, and if you take him out, he’s finished for the game. He doesn’t get a trip back, because he never started. So the sequence you want (starter out, sub in, sub out, starter back in) works exactly once. After that, the sub is gone. Little League is its own case, since a sub there can come back once the mandatory-play rules are satisfied.
There are a few wrinkles…
The pitcher. A pitcher who starts, comes out and re-enters is back in the game, but not on the mound. Little League, USSSA and Perfect Game all say a pitcher removed from the mound can’t pitch again that game. High school allows one return to the mound per inning. That card’s here.
When everyone bats, most travel rules skip re-entry, because no one is really a sub. If a player has to leave, his spot either becomes an out when it comes up or gets skipped, depending on the event. Here’s that one. It’s important to read the event rules before you decide how many to bat.
Courtesy runners don’t count in most rulebooks, since running for the pitcher or catcher isn’t entering the game. Check the event sheet, though. Perfect Game wants the courtesy runner to be an eligible sub for the lineup you’re using, which by itself doesn’t mean he’s entered the game.
The pro book is different. Out is out, and no one comes back. That’s why dads who learned baseball from television think re-entry is cheating. It’s not — it’s the youth rule, and it’s in every youth rulebook.
I’d keep a lineup card with three columns: starter, sub and re-entered. Mark every move. The umpire is tracking it. And the day you put a sub back in may be the day the other coach appeals and your run comes off the board.
Which rulebook? NFHS 3-1-3: a starter may be removed and re-entered once, in the same batting spot, and a substitute who is removed may not return. USSSA says the same. Little League 3.03: the substitute has to satisfy mandatory play before the starter returns, and Little League's re-entry rules are its own, so don't assume they match high school. Perfect Game: starters may re-enter once, and the PNW sheet allows it whether a team bats nine, 10 or 11. Non-starters never. Roster batting and defensive changes have their own lines on the event sheet. A pitcher who re-enters can't pitch again under Little League, USSSA and Perfect Game. High school lets him once per inning. Official Baseball Rules 5.10: a player who has been removed may not re-enter, which is why it feels wrong to people who only watch TV.
High school rules. You take out your starting shortstop in the third for a sub. In the fifth, you take the sub out and put the starter back in. In the sixth, you want the sub back. Can he return?
Still have a question? Ask Coach Fungo.
“Before you pull a sub, remember that he isn't coming back.”
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A run that scores before the third out counts, unless that out is a force, the batter put out before first base, or a runner ahead of him called out on appeal for missing a base or leaving early on a caught fly. Then it never counts, no matter how early he scored.
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