First, THANKS to all who have posted a reply. It's all great stuff and appreciated!
I know that it's out of my control. Trust me, I'm not sweating it. To me, it's all good and there's no losing scenarios here. Everything has some positives to it. None of it is perfect. There's no clear YES or NO here.
For me, personally, I would like to see him start the year on JV. He's played with those kids before at various places. He knows that he's more than capable to handle that level. Basically, it's the kids who he played with and against when he was in the 7th grade (and they were 8th graders). Plus, he knows the level of play at Freshmen is far below what he handles when playing travel. It's really not going to challenge him.
And, being on JV, he's one level and one injury/slump away from getting a cup of coffee on varsity.
Also, he's aware of the speed of the game at the varsity level. We've attended games in the past. We've also seen several college games in person. And, he's seen 16U and 17U teams play in tournaments. There's nothing he doesn't know about the speed at that level. Further, he's faced kids throwing 85 in travel games. And, he's taken BP off the Hack Attack at 90. No issues there. He's also caught bullpens for 18 years olds who are in the upper 80's and touching 90. He can handle it. But, in my opinion, he wouldn't do as well against it, at his age now, as he would playing at the JV level.