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How to Create a Baseball Lineup — Step by Step

Creating a baseball lineup means assigning every player on your roster to a batting order position and a fielding position for each inning of the game. A good lineup balances competitiveness with player development and playing time fairness — while staying within your league's rules. Here's how to do it from scratch, whether you're a first-year coach or a veteran looking for a better system.

Step 1: Know Your Roster

Before you touch a lineup card, understand what you're working with:

How many players do you have? 10 players means simple rotations. 15 players means more complex substitution planning.
What positions can each player play? Most youth players should play at least 3-4 positions over a season. Right now, you need to know their primary and secondary positions.
Who can pitch? Who can catch? These are the two constraint-heavy positions. Pitchers have pitch count limits. Catchers have catcher-to-pitcher restrictions. Know who's eligible before you start.
Is anyone unavailable? Injuries, rest-day restrictions from the last game, or kids who can't make it.

Write all of this down or have it in your coaching app. Don't try to hold it in your head.

Step 2: Set Your Batting Order

The batting order is the sequence your players will bat in throughout the game. In a standard 9-player batting order, only your 9 fielders bat. In a continuous batting order (common in rec leagues), your entire roster bats through.

Batting order fundamentals:

Position in Order	Traditional Role	What to Look For
1 (Leadoff)	Get on base	High OBP, good speed, patient hitter
2	Move runners, solid contact	Contact hitter, can bunt, low strikeout rate
3	Best all-around hitter	High AVG, good power, high OBP
4 (Cleanup)	Drive in runs	Power, extra-base hits
5	Secondary power	Similar to #4, slightly less consistent
6-7	Solid contact	Reliable hitters, fill the middle
8-9	Developing hitters / second leadoff	At 8: less experienced hitters. At 9 in continuous order: treat as a second leadoff spot

At the youth level, these roles are flexible. An 8U lineup doesn't need a "cleanup hitter." A 12U rec league lineup should prioritize fair distribution across batting order positions over the season more than optimizing each individual game. Batting order strategies by age →

For a faster approach, use Rizzler's free lineup generator or AI Batting Order (Pro plan) to generate a starting point, then adjust.

Step 3: Assign Fielding Positions by Inning

A fielding rotation maps out which player plays which position in each inning. For a 6-inning game with 12 players, this means filling 54 slots (9 positions × 6 innings) with 12 players — which means some players will sit out some innings.

Guidelines for fielding rotations:

Every player should play at least the minimum required by your league. Minimum play rules vary by league →
Rotate players through different positions. Don't park the same kid at right field for the entire season. Youth development requires exposure to multiple positions. Fielding rotation strategies →
Keep pitchers off the infield after pitching. An arm that just threw 50 pitches shouldn't go to shortstop where they'll make 15 more hard throws.
Protect catcher innings. If you might need a player to pitch later, limit their catching innings to stay clear of the catcher-to-pitcher rule.

Step 4: Set Your Pitching Plan

Decide who's pitching, approximately how many innings or pitches they'll throw, and who's available in relief.

Check pitch count limits for your league and age group
Check rest-day status from previous games
Check catcher-to-pitcher eligibility
Plan for a target pitch count, not the maximum (leave room for adjustment)

If you're playing in a tournament, your pitching plan for this game should be part of a larger weekend plan. How to plan pitching across a tournament →

Ready to take your game to the next level?

Step 5: Check the Rules

Before you finalize, verify your lineup against your league's rules:

✅ Pitch count limits respected
✅ Rest-day restrictions from prior games cleared
✅ Catcher-to-pitcher rule not violated
✅ Minimum play requirements met (every player meets their minimum innings)
✅ Substitution rules followed (re-entry rules vary by league)
✅ Batting order rules followed (continuous order if required)

Rizzler checks all of these automatically as you build your game plan and alerts you before you save a violation. If you're building on paper, double-check manually.

Step 6: Share and Execute

Get the lineup to your assistant coaches before the game. Whether that's sharing it through Rizzler (where it shows up on their phones automatically), texting a screenshot, or handing them a printed lineup card — make sure everyone is on the same page before first pitch.

During the game, adjustments will happen. A player gets hurt. A pitcher is struggling. You need to make a defensive change. When changes happen, update the rest of the game so you don't lose track of who's playing where in later innings.

Rizzler's game planning view handles this automatically — make a change in the current inning and it adjusts downstream innings to maintain your rotation. On paper, you'll need to recalculate manually.

Rizzler game plan view on a laptop showing a complete lineup with batting order and fielding positions for a 6-inning game

The Rizzler Way (Under 10 Minutes)

Open Rizzler on your laptop
Navigate to your next game
Drag players into the batting order (or click "AI Batting Order" on Pro)
Assign fielding positions per inning (or click "AI Fielding Positions" on Pro)
Set your pitcher and pitch count target
Rizzler checks the rules automatically — fix any flagged issues
Save. Done. It's on your phone for game day.

Try the free lineup generator → | Sign up for Rizzler →

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should it take to create a lineup?

With Rizzler: 5-10 minutes. On paper or a spreadsheet: 30-60 minutes depending on roster size and how carefully you track rules.

Should I use the same batting order every game?

For competitive teams, adjust based on matchups and recent performance. For rec teams, rotate batting order positions across games so the same kid doesn't bat last every Saturday. Rizzler tracks this for you.

What if a player shows up late or leaves early?

In Rizzler, mark them as unavailable and the rotation adjusts. On paper, you'll need to shift everyone around manually — which is where most mid-game lineup mistakes happen.

How is building a lineup different for continuous batting order?

With continuous batting order, every player on the roster bats, but only 9 play defense at a time. The batting order stays the same all game — the fielding rotation is where substitutions happen. Full continuous batting order guide →

See also: Approaches to Building a Batting Order → · Batting Order by Age Group → · Fielding Rotation Strategies →