Son is still on the journey, so I'm still learning (with huge help from this resource). We're in Atlanta, so we're fortunate that travel is almost always relegated to day trips.
The first year son played in his org (14U, and his first year playing outside of park-based teams), he was on the lowest of their 7 teams in the spring. He played hard, learned tons, and was really disappointed to not get invited to Ft Myers that summer.
He played with them again in the fall, worked incredibly hard over the winter, and was placed on probably the #5 team. Did well again, even through injuries, and also played on his HS summer ball team. Went to Ft. Myers, was frustrated, and came away with the belief that there's no need to pay to travel 1,000 miles away to get beaten when you can lose at home to the same teams and sleep in your own bed.
Took fall off after 15U summer to rest, practice a ton, gain strength. Went to his first PG showcase in FL, came away with a good understanding of where he was in the measurables. This year was 16U, third year with same org, was on the #3 or #4 team (depending on the weekend, but ultimately his team finished #3 across the board). No trip to FL (fine with us), all tourneys here in GA. Son did well, recovered from some dead periods in batting to lead the team, and continued to improve across the board both offensively and defensively.
Before he started in travel 4 years ago, he (we) had no idea what the competition was really like out there. He knew some catcher in his grade in his middle school named Dylan was really good, but we both figured that was because he was maturing faster than him, like that middle infielder named Brady in the neighboring county who was 6'3 and 200 in the 9th grade. After his first full year, he had a much more realistic view of where he was, what his skillset is, and what it was going to take to play at the next level.
Looking back, I don't know that I'd change much at all that he's done since he took the leap at 14U. His organization has recognized his work ethic/progression, and he's moved up when others have stalled. Meanwhile, son recognizes that there is a difference between where he is and where the #1, 2, etc. catchers are, and doesn't have a grudge. Rather, he competes/learns from them while also supporting/cheering them on (they're already committed, so they aren't competition anyway). And through it all, he's trying to keep his academics on point to help make it easier for a school to say yes.
Ultimately, he may not end up at one of the schools he's targeting. But (barring injury/unfortunate events), he'll play baseball in college at some level if he wants to. And I think that's ultimately going to be enough for him. I know it's enough for me.