My son is a 2016 catcher who was moved up to his high school varsity team at the end of his Freshman season and played in a couple of games when the starting varsity catcher was not able to be there. He made the varsity team this year as a Sophmore but has not played much so far this season. His primary position is catcher but he also plays OF positions. The situation is this: the team has a very good 2015 catcher who has been on the team since he was a freshman. They also have older more experienced players in the OF positions. So my son has had little playing time with the exception of running for the catcher and getting put in for games against far lesser teams. When playing against lesser teams he has played both catcher and OF ahead of 4-5 2015 players that have been sitting along with him during most games. Two of the starting OF players will graduate this year so I believe that next year my son will have a shot at getting one of those starting positions. There have also been rumors of the current catcher working on other positions but we have not seen it happen during any games as of yet.
The question is this: since the current catcher won't graduate until next year, and assuming my son does not beat him out as starting catcher (which I think may be unlikely because their skills are similar and the other catcher is a better batter) during my son's junior year he will not be able to get 'noticed' by colleges for his catching on his high school team. I think I know the answer but any thoughts on how to address this? I'm assuming if he can start as catcher for his summer and fall travel/tournament teams (which he will be doing this year for sure) and possibly attend showcases that this could help address this situation. But just wondering how likely it would be for colleges to bring him on for a position he is not playing in high school in his junior year. I fully expect him to be starting catcher his senior year but it seems from everything I've read that Junior year is the most important for 'getting noticed'...right? The HS team will also likely not be as good that year as there are a large number of good 2015 players that will be leaving and less strength on the 2016 players that will be coming on.
Any thoughts or advice would be welcomed.