JCG posted:RJM is dead on. Look at it this way, would you rather see your kid go to one of the top 10 schools on that list, or would you rather seem him go to a school like Caltech, which I know without looking is near the bottom?
But you can try to have both, to a certain extent. We have a user who, before his kid's baseball career came to an end, tried to aggregate baseball quality and academic quality on one list. It's pretty good.
I can tell you my son's preference is in line with this suggestion and he (and I) is anxiously awaiting Caltech's EA admission decision--hopefully this Saturday. He may not win many games playing at Caltech, but I think his career prospects in Physics would work out just fine going there! He's supported by both the departing coach, Matthew Mark and newly hired Kevin Whitehead. He has excellent academic credentials competitive with anyone to apply there, but he's hoping that baseball can be the differentiator from the thousands of other similarly qualified candidates. Ultimately, my advice to anyone in HS would be to focus more on academics because the potential opportunities there (now and future) far outweigh the athletic ones. But keep developing athletically because that might help be a "hook" in a competitive admissions situation.