Not trying to promote my own, but to use my personal experience in this issue. My son is primarily a pitcher. Has always played short and hit pretty well, but has always been a very good pitcher. Above average FB and a very good breaking ball and change up. If he was playing rec ball, he could have served up fastballs down the middle and blew it by those kids all day. By him playing at a high level - starting on the small diamond - he has had to learn to "pitch" and not just throw. Because of that, he had not just an innate ability, but a refined enough talent to be a starting pitcher on his HS varsity team as a freshman. Not a chump division either. Our division is the largest in the state and our region is arguably the toughest region in the state. As a freshman, he made 2nd team all region and was among the top 10 in wins and ERA. In our region alone, there were 23 D1 signees and 4 or 5 kids taken in the draft this year. He just would not have been able to do that by playing rec up until he got to HS. Would he have made it to that level eventually? Possibly, but as it stands now, by the time he is a senior, he will have 3 years of varsity pitching behind him. No way would that have happened had he not played competitive ball growing up.
For him, he wants to play at that level. He wants to be challenged and be able to go up against the best.