Baseball Rules for the National Pony League

Pony Baseball is a national organization that provides a baseball experience to young athletes between the ages of four and 19. Pony provides structure to the local leagues within its organization to help them organize and operate regular season leagues and it also manages postseason tournament play. Fair play and player safety are the primary goals of the rules put in place by Pony Baseball.

  1. Divisions of Play

    • Pony Baseball is divided into seven different divisions based upon the age of its players. Players who are four to six years of age play in the Shetland Division, where they play tee-ball. The combined coach-pitch, kid-pitch division for seven- and eight-year-olds is the Pinto division. The Pony rules implement full player pitching at the age of nine, with the Mustang division. At age 11 and 12, players begin to lead off and steal bases in the Bronco division. The Pony division is for 13- and 14-year-old players, who move to the Colt level at 15 and then on to Palomino for the players who are 17-19 years of age.

    Field Dimensions

    • Pony Baseball uses a progressive approach to the size of its field to fulfill its goal of gradually working players up to the full-sized baseball diamond they will play on during high school and beyond. The Shetland, Pinto and Mustang divisions all play on fields that are set up with the bases 60 feet apart, though the tee-ball players at the Shetland level do have the option of changing that to 50 feet. The pitching rubber is set at 38 feet for Pinto, then moves back to 44 feet for Mustang players. Bronco baseball is played on a diamond with 70-foot base paths and 48 feet from the pitching rubber to home plate. The distances increase to 80 feet and 54 feet for Pony play and then to the regulation diamond dimensions of 90-foot bases and a 60-foot, 6-inch pitching distance for both Colt and Palomino play.

    Line-Ups

    • The two youngest divisions, Shetland and Pinto, are designed to maximize playing time for everyone on the roster. Both age groups are set up with the entire roster batting through before the first hitter bats again, regardless of who is in the game defensively. Shetland adds a 10th player to its defensive alignment, but both allow for random defensive substitution to give all players a chance to play an equal number of innings in the field. Mustang is the first division at which Pony introduces a nine-player line-up with the batting order limited to players who are in the game defensively. The Colt and Palomino divisions use the designated hitter rule that allows for a hitter to bat in place of the pitcher.

    Pitching Rules

    • Mustang pitchers are limited to three innings in a game and eight total innings in a calendar week. The Bronco, Pony and Colt divisions limit a pitcher to seven innings in a day and a total of 10 innings in a week and Palomino pitchers are limited to nine innings in a day. The rules also mandate rest at 40 hours before pitching again after a Mustang player pitches three innings in a day; a Bronco, Pony or Colt pitcher throws in four or more innings in a day and a Palomino pitcher throws in five or more innings in a day.