Substitute for High School Baseball?

In our area travel "select" ball is prevalent in the fall AND spring through 8th grade. Once in HS it shuts down in the spring yielding to school ball only.  We live in a large metro area and there is one "select" spring team that gathers kids from small schools with tiny baseball opportunities, kids rehabbing injuries, kids from schools that don't have BB, and kids from large public schools that didn't make the HS team or perhaps play other sports so baseball is an out of school only team sport for them.  This team plays small public and private schools for extra competition / games for many area schools.  It is an option for a player to play that may not otherwise make their HS team and for extra reps and competition for a kid that wants to augment their spring season if their HS coach allows them to participate. Of course the games won't get you to a state competition, but it is a valuable experience none the less.

Spring HS travel will depend on where you live.   

However, there are many small private high schools with good baseball teams.  I'd look for one.  

In our district, if a private school doesn't have a varsity sport, the kid has alternatives available through the public school system; so, check your local rules.

If the private school has a team, play on that team.

Elijah, it might help to let us know where you are at.  There are Ops on here from all over the country and alternatives to HS ball can vary greatly from one area to another.  

Im Chicagoland.  There are very few alternatives to HS ball once the HS season starts.  There are some travel teams that will practice, but those teams are generally made up of kids who don't make their HS teams.  The few players that are strong enough to make their HS teams but elect not to play generally travel to with Wisconsin or Iowa to play in programs there.  But unless you are in the northern suburbs your looking at an hour and a half drive to WI or a 2 to 3 hour drive to IA.  Kinda tough to do during the week to make practices.  A little easier on the weekends to make games. 

Same thing, here in IL when it comes to private schools not having a program.  If a private school does not offer something your local school district does you are eligible to play in the public schools program.  But the same rules apply to you as it does other students.  You must live in the district boundaries and you must make the team.

Elijah - looks like you too are from Ga, and sent you a private message. 

In addition to what other posters have stated about options, here in Ga we understood (as our HS was looking for a coach last summer) that if the public HS does not have a coach, or offer a sport, the student-athlete can participate in that sport for a neighboring HS.

In Cherokee County Georgia (not sure which part of GA you are in), the HS baseball season runs from Mid January-Mid April (or beginning of May if you are super lucky).  Travel ball will kick off around mid April and go through mid July for 14u and up.  These are the teams that could include HS players.

My son's middle school does not offer a baseball team so I don't know about their season, but if your son is 12u/13u I would expect your first game to be the last weekend in February or the first weekend in March for travel ball.  And if your kid pitches PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make sure you keep up with how much he has pitched for both teams combined, this includes warm up pitches.  12/13/14 seems to be the magical years for growth plate arm injuries in our neck of the woods.

Yes, we are in Georgia (border of Dekalb and Gwinnett, though not in Gwinnett system). Just now beginning research on possible alternatives. The bigger question is what is right for him concerning education. He has been in a smaller environment and thrived in it so my thoughts lean towards finding something similar for HS years. 

But then there is this baseball thing. So I asked myself a simple question: Can a player get away without playing HS if he is playing Spring, Summer and Fall baseball? If he is good enough, wouldn't he get enough exposure if he wanted to (and was able) to play further? 

We haven't ruled out anything. Just asking questions. Thanks for your thoughts. 

The quick answer is, no a kid doesn't HAVE to play HS ball. 

An example is Cody Poteet now in MILB via UCLA. He didn't play on his HS team at least for his last year; I believe he played in an alternative spring league made up of HS and college aged players (Southern California).

But there was plenty of discussion amongst the baseball community (scouts and college coaches) about that decision. The decision didn't effect Cody, however, as he was drafted out of HS, but chose to head to UCLA. That same decision by a kid of lesser talent may not have had the same result.

In the universe of schools you are looking at, I don't think you'll settle on a baseball power private school, so your son's baseball skill building would come outside HS in any event. No one cares where those baseball skills are built, just that he has those skills.

We felt we prioritized HS education over athletics; chose a very small (250 student HS [125 boys]) private school with a very poor baseball program (though with superb coaches). So bad, that when S wasn't pitching he was a left-handed shortstop. The choice of the school as well as playing for that school didn't affect his baseball options. While he was a dominant force on the team, he loved being able to play with his buds (some of whom had last played as 8 year olds) and didn't mind the talent level. His best friends to this day are the kids on that team.

(But, we did learn - during the college selection process for my daughter - that the road to a very high academic college may ironically be easier if you are a top student at a poor public HS as opposed to a a top student at a high achieving private HS.)

I believe there are East CObb programs for kids who opt out of HS ball. I know the talent by position, across the board is not the same as regular travel ball. The Titans organization may offer a spring travel as an anit-HS option as well. 

Thanks for the replys. This new info at least opens up some options I was not aware of.