Fall ball and other sports

Personally, I'd work backwards and begin on something you didn't mention: his grades, study habits, curriculum.

Some kids can undertake all the stuff you listed (new HS sport, travel ball, HS itself), others not so much.

Academics are far more important than anything on your list. if I had to prioritize - after grades - it would be (1) baseball individual skill building, (2) developing and implementing a high end baseball conditioning program (e.g., football and baseball conditioning are worlds apart), then (3/4) travel baseball or HS sport, with the one just left out last on the list.

I believe that individual baseball skill building - at this stage - is far more important than games; he will be recruited based upon his individual skills, not based upon his team play.

Grades are of course important.  He did well in MS and was pretty responsible with getting his work done on time BUT high school will be an adjustment.  I did notice while his grades didn't slip I had to check in on him more frequently when he played school ball to make sure he completed everything.

We purposely kept his course load a little less intense so he could make the adjustment to high school easier and plan to challenge him a bit more next year.

It's interesting that the last thing on your list is travel ball and another sport. I get the individual training piece which he very much enjoys.I do like that the school sport is incorporating explosive movements and use of the weight room. But a kid has to have fun by playing baseball if possible.

My son is a rising freshman and is playing soccer for his HS.  I view this as beneficial to his development because 1) he is good at the game and enjoys playing 2) it works his core, legs, endurance, and he gets in great shape 3) it is a different set of friends than his baseball friends, including upper classman which helps with the transition to HS.  The one downside is that he loses weight, but once the season is over he has four months of stuffing his face and hitting the gym before spring baseball

He will still play a limited fall travel baseball schedule (and lift) but his coach understands that fall HS sports are important to a lot of kids and he is therefore more flexible.

We also found that we needed to really not let him slip at the beginning of the whole new world HS presents; lots of new shiny objects to distract.

My son found that baseball individual skill building was fun (he didn't enjoy the buckets of balls he needed to hit daily in the backyard, tho). (Individual skill building doesn't need to be a solitary endeavor; he (we, cause he couldn't drive) would arrive a bit early for lessons and hang with the other players while watching guys learn and then hang out after the lesson doing the same thing.) Talent watching talent pays off. (Homework was done in the commute.)

Baseball should always be fun - practice, games, reading  - every part.

Balancing time becomes more difficult the higher in the baseball/school pyramid you go; so using every minute efficiently is important. Travel ball was the least efficient use of time; way too much sitting, way too much waiting, way too much commuting, way too many speeches, not enough reps - during school. When time isn't crunched  - like summer  - it's a different story. (In summer, he'd pitch his few innings and hang out for the entire day hoping to get an AB or field time and swapping stories/lies with the comrades.)

If your son's goal wasn't baseball beyond HS, my advice would be different. But, to get beyond HS, he's competing nationwide with a pool of players who never stop working/grinding towards that goal. To get there it's a marathon, with incremental improvement, and no shortcuts; time is the inventory which is always depleting and, therefore, needs to be managed carefully. Hence, the personal priorities.

My son played fall ball and high school soccer freshman and soph year. Travel didn’t play during the week. Soccer didn’t play on the weekends. He had to do baseball workouts on his own during the week. It was common for me to show up at the end of soccer practice to work on baseball.

The baseball coach expected players to show up for the first day of tryouts in midseason form. My son played basketball in the winter and went to baseball training at 5:45am before classes.

He felt the baseball season was a vacation compared to the fall and winter. While mentioning the sports aspects of his high school years my academic demands were much higher. He finished in the top 3% of his class. It provided options.

If a kid wants to play college ball by high school the baseball effort needs to be year round whether it’s baseball training or baseball physical development.

My son (hs 2024 grad) has always played multiple sports (fall, winter, spring); it has been very good for his overall athletic development and his mental maturity competing so many different modes.  My son played fall baseball plus another fall sport for five years 4th grade through 8th grade.  He is now down to two hs sports (winter basketball and spring baseball) heading into his senior hs year.  

I do think, baseball development will slow down without deliberate practice; however, an 8 week break for a 13 yr old will not alter his baseball future.   If your son wants to (and enjoys) the other sports ... let him.

What we've come to learn, playing a winter hs sport is a much bigger conflict with baseball development than playing a fall sport.  In the fall season, there is still enough daylight to get outdoor baseball reps after the hs fall sport ends at ~5 pm.  Not so in the winter.  Winter baseball training is essential for success in the spring hs baseball season.  We had to find (and fund) different winter indoor baseball training solutions that had flexible operating hours.  His old travel team had very rigid 1 hour x twice a week winter indoor practices that my son could almost never attend during hs basketball season.  A conflict that we manage as best we can for as long as my son wants to play multiple sports.

Son played soccer all 4 years of HS.   Never really affected any baseball....as our fall ball here was always on the weekend.  Typically if they had a soccer game on Saturday it was fairly early and he could make it to baseball for the remainder of Saturday and also on Sunday.   He played some travel fall ball....and with other kids also playing fall sports, the coach was pretty much to the point of "if you can get here....you're gonna play".  We probably used 30+ kids for 3 weeks of fall ball.   Our local fall league was just 1 game (and few DH's) on Sunday afternoon, so he never had any issues with that.

Both of my sons have played HS basketball through their baseball careers. It has been a very good experience that has helped them immensely when the transition to spring baseball comes.

When my older son who is a P went on college visits all the coaches were pleased that a tall player like him was playing basketball. All commented that they like Ps who play hoops because it helps their movements on the mound.

Younger son is IF and all the agility and speed work in basketball makes him more athletic on the baseball field.

The basketball season is long and hard and around February they look forward to it ending and transitioning to baseball. I don’t think they would look forward to the baseball season with the same anticipation if they just trained baseball in the winter.

Of course it can be difficult to juggle basketball with winter baseball training - but like so much of the baseball lifestyle- you just need to find a way.

As a parent I’m glad they stuck with basketball. All the time playing and training basketball as a youth would have been waisted if they went to HS and gave it up just for baseball.

When my son stopped playing high school basketball it gave him time to get in his baseball training and physical development training at a less than hectic pace. He was there every afternoon as opposed tom5:45am baseball and after school basketball.

Stopping basketball also allowed him to do more physical work and bulk up for baseball. He was having trouble getting past 160-165 with basketball. He’s built like a point guard. Even without basketball he was 6’1” 175 senior year. It wasn’t until college ball he got up to 190-195.

FWIW, as a mom I'd say give baseball a break and have some fun with a different sport as a freshman (he's about 13 or 14 years old, right?).  My son was the kicker on the HS football team for four years, which was a terrific experience for him.  He loved being part of the whole football scene, which was so much bigger and rowdier than baseball at his school.  If your son plans to play baseball in college, there's eventually going to be a lot of baseball ahead for all of your family (fall tourneys, the actual season, long and hot summer travel ball, showcases, etc.) Until he turns 16, has had his growth spurt, and really must focus solely on baseball, I think playing another sport is just a fun life experience.

I'd just be wary of basketball for the battery (spoken as the mom of a pitcher who lost his junior season to a crappy pick-up game). Those broken and/or jammed fingers take about 8 weeks to heal, which easily ruins a short spring season.

I think Eric Cressey has a few podcasts about how a diversity of sports when kids are younger can really help their development (https://ericcressey.com/csp-el...-specialization-work). My son trained at Cressey and thinks the world of them.

Just my 2 cents and not worth more than that.  I'm sure there are many ways to think about how to spend the fall.  I do hope your son enjoys his first fall of high school! Let us know what he decides to do or play!