Baseball Lineup Generator: how it works
Type your roster, choose how many innings you play, and this baseball lineup generator writes a batting order and a fielding chart for every inning. The fair playing time option spreads bench innings evenly and never sits a player two innings running. Print the chart for the dugout wall. The names you type stay in your browser.
Enter the roster and set the game
A made-up sample roster of 12 is loaded, so you can see a finished chart straight away. Replace it with your own 9 to 15 players, one name per line. Choose the number of innings, usually six for youth games and seven or nine for older players, then mark who may pitch and who may catch. Those two jobs need practice and, for the catcher, a full set of protective gear, so the generator fills them only from the players you marked. Everyone else is dealt across the other seven positions.
How the fair rotation works
Nine players field at a time, so a roster of 12 leaves three on the bench each inning. Over six innings that is 18 bench turns, one or two per player, and the generator never hands one player three while another has none. It also refuses to sit anyone two innings in a row, and it moves players between infield and outfield so nobody spends the whole game in right field. Choose Random instead and positions are drawn fresh every inning, which suits a scrimmage.
Batting order, extra hitters and league rules
The batting order can be shuffled, or kept as typed if you have already chosen it. Many youth leagues bat the whole roster in a continuous order, so a player on the bench still takes a turn at the plate; scorebooks mark that batter EH, for extra hitter. Little League's regular-season rule is that every player present at the start plays at least six defensive outs and bats at least once. Read your own league's rule, then use the innings column on the chart to confirm every player clears it.
Tips
- Generate the chart the night before and print two copies: one for the dugout wall and one for whoever keeps the scorebook.
- If a player is absent on game day, delete the name and generate again. A chart patched by hand is how one child ends up sitting three times.
- Mark at least two pitchers and two catchers. Pitch-count limits and tired knees mean you will want a second option by the middle innings.
- Scorekeepers write positions as numbers: 1 pitcher, 2 catcher, 3 first base, 4 second base, 5 third base, 6 shortstop, 7 left field, 8 center field, 9 right field.
- Set the inning count first, because the bench math changes: 12 players over nine innings means 27 bench turns, two or three each.
Questions and answers
Does this work as a Little League lineup generator?
Yes, that is the job it was built for: 9 to 15 players, six innings by default, a continuous batting order and a fair rotation. It counts each player's innings in the field so you can check them against your league's minimum play rule. Local leagues often set house rules stricter than the national minimum of six defensive outs and one at-bat. This site has no connection with Little League Baseball.
How does the fair playing time option decide who sits?
It counts bench turns. Each inning it sits the players who have sat the least so far, skips anyone who sat in the previous inning, and breaks ties at random. With 11 players over six innings there are 12 bench turns, so ten players sit once and one sits twice. With 15 there are 36, so nine players sit twice and six sit three times, and still nobody sits back to back.
Can I use it as a baseball depth chart maker?
Partly. A depth chart ranks your first, second and third choice at each position, and that ranking is a coaching judgment no random tool should make for you. What the generator adds is the By position view: for each of the nine positions, the players down to play there, in inning order. Mark your pitchers and catchers first, generate, and that view is a working depth chart for game day.
Are the players' names stored anywhere?
Only in your own browser. The roster is saved on this device so it is still there next week, and nothing you type is sent to us or to anyone else. For a youth team, first names, initials or jersey numbers work just as well on the chart. Clearing this site's data in your browser settings deletes the roster.