you say your son is a late bloomer. what's his upside? are you and mom big and son has a good chance to grow into a monster body? or, is he a late developer and looking at 5'8" as his ceiling? I'll give you two anecdotes that can, hopefully, give you some hope
my 2023's good friend is also a catcher and a late developer. his brother grew between soph and jr years and became a 6'1" beast. his dad did, too. friend grew a lot during covid (5"+) but his man strength is not fully there yet. Their HS class is pretty rich with catchers but, mechanically, he's the best one. he's on JV this year and another 2023 is starting on varsity (and another one didn't make grades). next year, he has a tough row to how, with the incumbent being the same year, but, if he makes the strength gains i think he will, he'll stand out and blow everyone's minds. he'll be bigger, stronger and better than the current catcher. this should give some hope to late bloomers everywhere. take care of what you can take care of now so you can take advantage when the pendulum swings the other way.
the other case is another classmate of theirs. he made varsity as a freshman last year when there were two senior catchers. he didn't catch. at all. he's a P/3b and is currently a big cog on the varsity team. once the season ends, though, he goes back to his travel team (coached by one of the best catching coaches in the area) and becomes the primary catcher. he's pretty good and is actually getting recruited by a couple of mid major d1s as a catcher. his "goal" is to commit as a catcher without ever having caught for his school, lol. it can be done but, as others have said, you gotta hit. work on you catching game when you can but make sure you get on the field during HS and make the most of your opportunities.
also, go with the best academic situation you have available. period.