Attend a HF Camp Before Taking SAT/ACT?

Based on my 2017's experience, I would say HF is more about the academic record you present on the application, which then goes to the coaches who are working the camp.  Certainly your 2019's GPA would attract some attention, and if he throws well he may get some value out of it.  But from what I saw at the June session in Sacramento, the vast majority of schools are academic D3's and they do not really start recruiting until a kid's Senior year.  I think they figure if your son is really good going to HF as an incoming Junior, he would likely wind up at a high academic D1/Ivy school and they won't have a chance at him.  There are exceptions of course, so if your son has no desire to aim for D1 and wants to start making an impression on the smaller schools, HF is ideal.  But the coaches he does impress are going to want to see his transcripts and test scores as soon as they are available.

Regarding PSAT/SAT, my son did really well on both, so I do think it is a good indicator of potential.  For reference, my 2017 took the SAT in October of Junior year, then retook for an even higher score in January (with test prep in between) and the ACT in April so he had both test scores before attending HF June after Junior year.  His GPA is only average, so the test scores definitely got him on the HF coaches radar.  While I do not think HF screens out players based on their academic record, the coaches at these schools are very focused on making sure a kid has a chance to get into their school before they spend any effort recruiting a player. 

With a 2018 who went to the Nov HF camp and has been to a PG showcase I'll throw out a few things:  

At HF, college coaches beyond HPY were continuing to piece together 2017's. HPY, Duke, Vandy were focused on 2018 Pitchers throwing 86+. If you were a big position player with strong measurables and a good first ACT you were noticed.  But the attention for 2018's was on pitching.  If you look on PG, check out the few commits from class of 2018 for H & Y and look at their ACT scores.  If a 2018 position player made good plays, they were noticed, but unless they already had a strong ACT it was unlikely there was serious conversation.  My son played SS most of time, played very well, with strong velo's, our expectations were reasonable, son focused on playing hard and getting one on one time with college coaches he'd already communicated with.  Son also had his first ACT score to relay to coaches.  It was a good first score 29-31 area, but not an attention getter for any Ivy this early in the process.  A strong player with a strong ACT will get the early attention.

Before you sign up for the PG camp get a gun on him and see where he's at.  Feb could be early for him to be hitting peak velo after shut down and ramp up.  The showcases are about measureables first...  You have time to get your son stronger.  If your son is physically ready, different story for Feb PG showcase.  Could be a good time to get benchmarked.  Look on PG at the profiles of 2017 and 2018's that received good PG ratings early on, what was their velo and write up like? 

Rambling here, just a few quick thoughts knowing I've likely misspelled something....

I think all high academic kids should take the SAT very early, and a 4.1 GPA qualifies as that. I had all three of my student athletes take the SAT as freshman. The recruiting process is as much an elimination process as a selection process. If your 4.1 gets an equivalent SAT than you can eliminate many schools that are academically below his ability. Also the more you take the SAT the more comfortable you are with the test. There is no downside as if the scores are not what you like you don't have to share them. 

Should your son attend HF at all?  Only if the schools on his vetted list will be there.  If the answer is "yes", then by all means your son can (and maybe, should) attend as a rising Junior even without SAT/ACT scores.  And yes, the PSAT is a reasonable proxy for the SAT, though many kids improve their scores.

This may be obvious, but I'll add that attending any showcase or camp for purposes of college recruiting, not just HF, should be driven by fit, i.e., will the schools on your son's vetted list be in attendance.  Or in the case of a PG showcase, your son will be rated and that information can be shared with his vetted list of schools even if they don't attend the PG event.

wrt HF, my boys did HF Jupiter in the Fall of their Junior years not HF Sac or NY as rising Juniors.  IMHO, most schools at HF Summer sessions are very focused on rising Seniors.  HF jupiter is typically in late October or early November and the focus shifts considerably to HS Juniors.  Going again to HF the following Summer as a rising Senior allowed my guys to be seen twice by many coaches.  It also allowed them to get a few more months of physical, emotional, and baseball maturity.  And they both had ACT scores by then.

compare posted:

I think all high academic kids should take the SAT very early, and a 4.1 GPA qualifies as that. I had all three of my student athletes take the SAT as freshman. The recruiting process is as much an elimination process as a selection process. If your 4.1 gets an equivalent SAT than you can eliminate many schools that are academically below his ability. Also the more you take the SAT the more comfortable you are with the test. There is no downside as if the scores are not what you like you don't have to share them. 

100% agree with every word Compare posted.  If your son is truly going to get the value that HF provides, then putting his best academic foot forward at the right time can separate him from others in a very competitive high academic recruiting environment.  In addition, the SAT and ACT scores are academic separators for many HF schools.  Some of these schools are incredibly selective with single digit acceptance rates.   If your son knows his SAT/ACT numbers in advance, he'll  then know where to best focus his efforts and your money....last time I checked HF wasn't cheap.   Let me put it to you this way....If I didn't think my son had the necessary SAT/ACT scores, I never would have sprung for the HF fee.   JMO.