Little League Lineup Excel Template

[BryceC]

Hey guys I’m a first time coach of a little league team and I’m trying to find an excel template where I can just put in the roster and have it spit out a different lineup for the fielding positions each inning so it makes it completely equal for everybody. It’s a 6 year old team so I want everybody to have equal time at each spot. I have found some online but most require you to put in the information by hand which seems incredibly time consuming. I just want random positions for each inning done but I want them all to be equal.

Anybody ever done this or have a template? Thanks,

 

[1100011CS]

Have you looked for a phone app?

 

[cyclonespiker33]

I guess I'm not allowed to upload a excel file here, but you could build something simple like below:

Obviously it would depend on the number of kids and innings. Also, it's not random, it just follows a pattern, but that is arguably more fair than randomness.

 

[besserheimerphat]

Obviously it would depend on the number of kids and innings. Also, it's not random, it just follows a pattern, but that is arguably more fair than randomness.

Yeah, true randomness may not be fair. And you'd have to decide if you want "random" across games (every kid plays the same every game) or "random" across the entire season (some kids may go stretches of 2-3 games where they play only a couple positions). Even if it's truly random, I guarantee you some kids/parents will take it as an indication that they aren't good enough to play some positions. Welcome to youth sports.

 

[3TrueFans]

Yeah, the goal should be just to get every kid playing every position, not to have it be random. @cyclonespiker33 seems to have the right idea with a pattern that just rotates around.

 

[besserheimerphat]

This will do what you want, and everything should even out across the season. The table on the left is just a bunch of random numbers - the formula is =RAND(). The formula for the table on the right, which actually translates the random numbers and makes sure they don't duplicate, is in the formula bar at the top. Note that in this game, Player 9 randomly plays every inning, but Player 6 is randomly on the bench for 5/7 innings. Over the course of the season, this will average out but there are likely to be streaks where random players ride the bench a lot and you probably will hear about it.

 

[VeloClone]

View attachment 47744

This will do what you want, and everything should even out across the season. The table on the left is just a bunch of random numbers - the formula is =RAND(). The formula for the table on the right, which actually translates the random numbers and makes sure they don't duplicate, is in the formula bar at the top. Note that in this game, Player 9 randomly plays every inning, but Player 6 is randomly on the bench for 5/7 innings. Over the course of the season, this will average out but there are likely to be streaks where random players ride the bench a lot and you probably will hear about it.

Even if it is generated randomly I would encourage you to not have one player play every inning of a game and another ride the bench for almost the entire game. Parents see it one game at a time and a huge discrepancy like that will only make them irate before you ever have time to explain it. Try explaining to the parents why Johnny only played two innings in the only game Grandma and Grandpa could make when they came from out of town.

 

[Clonefan94]

Honestly, what you are looking for, is not that difficult to just do manually. Fill out a chart with the names down the side and the innings across the top (Do as many innings as there are positions and bench time) Then just fill in the positions for each player, making sure to spread out the bench time to a few innings of each other. If you start, 1,2,3,bench,4,5,6, etc. for positions, start the next player down at 2. Then as the season goes, you just keep track of the innings in each game, then start the next game after the inning you just ended at the previous game. I used to do this at the beginning of every season. It works great as no kid plays another position or sits the bench twice, before everyone else gets a shot.

We are in an older league now, so I use something similar, but it's more intricate on keeping track of because I don't want a random infield full of kids who aren't good infielders, same for outfield. So I have to put more thought into it now and only worry about players not getting a chance to play a position from game to game, instead of inning by inning.

 

[iacyguy]

this is great for my 8 year olds team, but I need to be able to calculate WAR, OPS, and WHIP. Because i swear little Kevin has been losing me games in Right field

 

[Cycsk]

Even if it is generated randomly I would encourage you to not have one player play every inning of a game and another ride the bench for almost the entire game. Parents see it one game at a time and a huge discrepancy like that will only make them irate before you ever have time to explain it. Try explaining to the parents why Johnny only played two innings in the only game Grandma and Grandpa could make when they came from out of town.

You could let parents pick a game or two for which Little Johnny could be Player 1 or 2, assuming they will bat first.

 

[intrepid27]

At that stage there is probably not much difference between playing right, center, or left field.

 

[intrepid27]

In before somebody wishes they would bring back ISU baseball.

 

[cyfanatic13]

This just makes me wish Jamie would bring back ISU baseball

 

[CloneFan65]

From personal experience, with six-year-olds, there may be some kids who shouldn't play pitcher or first base. There will be some kids with decent arms, so if there is a kid at first who doesn't catch very well, it can be a safety hazard. Sometimes I would put my weaker arms all in the infield at the same time, then you can have a weaker player at first. At pitcher you need to make sure you have a kid who stays focused and pays attention. Even if it's t-ball there will be some line drives back at the pitcher.

 

[Macloney]

I did this to be fair and show any parents that might have wanted to know how fair it was.

You have the right idea that every kid should try every position, let them all try it out.

The problem I always ran into was no-shows and kids in the bathroom or unavailable when the inning starts and you have to just grab kids and throw them out there. All the planning in the world couldn't predict when you would have to grab the first kid with a glove to fill a spot. It sounds like you have the right idea though, have fun and good luck!

 

[isu22andy]

Dont be a **** coach either, still dont talk to my little league coach from 12 years ago. Left a sour taste in my mouth for all sports. Prick .

 

[ISUTex]

Hey guys I’m a first time coach of a little league team and I’m trying to find an excel template where I can just put in the roster and have it spit out a different lineup for the fielding positions each inning so it makes it completely equal for everybody. It’s a 6 year old team so I want everybody to have equal time at each spot. I have found some online but most require you to put in the information by hand which seems incredibly time consuming. I just want random positions for each inning done but I want them all to be equal.

Anybody ever done this or have a template? Thanks,

Just rotate them clock wise or something off the top of your head. No need for a spreadsheet. As long as parents see that every kid is pretty much playing all over the place they'll be fine. Just stay positive and have treats ready for the team after games. You're set.

 

[AgronAlum]

You don't need a spreadsheet to coach 6 year olds. Just rotate them positions no matter what their skill level is and encourage them to have fun. It's ridiculous to think that anything has to be serious for a team of 6 year olds.

Spreadsheets at 6 years old is what's ruining sports. I'm saying this as a dad of a 5 year old that's one of the best on his baseball team. It doesn't matter at this age.

 

[Rabbuk]

Just remember if any of them are good they're gonna need an entourage when they make the big leagues.

 

[BryceC]

You don't need a spreadsheet to coach 6 year olds. Just rotate them positions no matter what their skill level is and encourage them to have fun. It's ridiculous to think that anything has to be serious for a team of 6 year olds.

Spreadsheets at 6 years old is what's ruining sports. I'm saying this as a dad of a 5 year old that's one of the best on his baseball team. It doesn't matter at this age.

My kid might be the worst player on the team. This isn't about anything competitive. Luckily everybody plays every inning.

With 20 or so games though I want it to make it as equitable as possible between the infield and outfield. I honestly have a great group of kids and parents but I never want to make it seem like their is favoritism that's all. I tried just letting them run out and take positions last game but it was just too chaotic and we wasted too much time between innings.