A friend of mine has a son that was in the same situation as you are. Except that he thinks his kid is the next coming of Derek Jeter, Mike Trout and Bryce Harper put together. His son played on a competitive (way to serious) U11 team. The coach said that no one would be allowed to play rec when they moved up to U12. After many cold beverages I convinced him to let his son play his last year of rec. The all star team made it to the Southeast regional and his kid was on Sports Center top ten. Priceless!!!
JMO does not matter where your son plays U12. Just make sure he is having fun! My son never played for an academy team and played Rec in spring and travel lite daddy ball in the fall till he was 15. He just signed with a top 5 college team.