Winter sport

I suspect most here would disagree, but I say play basketball.  You only get HS once, it is a great sport with different types of movements and muscle groups used v. baseball, and training for baseball in the winter is boring v. live hoops game with fans!!  Let's just hope they have a season!!

My son was a DII commit and played basketball his Senior year.  I don't think his coach knew or cared - and I think he would have encouraged it in any event.  I will tell you one thing - one of the most cherished memories I will ever have was when my son hit a game winning basket to beat a conference rival.  As much as I love baseball, I think I enjoyed watching him play basketball more, likely because it was his "second" sport where he could just enjoy it and have fun without pressures of recruiting.  I'd want that for any kid.

When basketball ends, take a week off then start back up with baseball.

We often see baseball or football coaches at our local high school basketball games checking out kids they are recruiting. They seem to approve. I agree, run it by the college coach and then decide.

This may be difficult to get a feel due to Covid-19 and recruitment, but is there a good chance he will see significant playing time at D1?  If so keep in mind that others will be baseball training while his time is spent playing basketball.  Once it's signed it now becomes more than baseball, it's a means to get an education at a discounted price  possibly for the next 4 years.  Playing another competitive sport increases the risk of injury which may effect baseball status.  Of course baseball training can also cause injury but that's a risk one must take for their meal ticket.  If his love for basketball is equal or greater than baseball then it might make his high school memories more meaningful by playing basketball.

Basketball was my second sport in HS and it helped me tremendously with increasing my overall athleticism and conditioning. We full court pressed the entire game every game so at the end of the season I was in better condition than anybody else that was playing baseball. Those are the positives. On the flip side, I got injured more playing basketball than any sport I ever played. Once you roll an ankle over badly it never recovers to its previous strength. I rolled both mine over so many times that I later (in college) had to have both ankles taped before every practice and every game. So you have to weigh the pros and cons. 

If a player has any fear of getting injured in a second or third sport they shouldn’t play. If getting injured is in the back of their minds while playing the odds if injury just increased.

Ironically my son gave up football in high school to decrease injury odds. He was expecting June offers post junior summer. He got injured and missed  the summer and fall for recruiting and soccer in fall in a collision at home playing in his first 17u game in June.

Play with no fear or don’t play. 

Mine played football, basketball, and baseball for three years then we moved after football his junior year.  He decided not to play football his senior year partly because he was QB and line was horrible.  The former QB told him if you play be ready to run for your life.

In basketball, he was always very aggressive but his senior year, he sat down with HC and told him he would like to play but was not going to be as aggressive as he had been in the past, fear of injury.  They agreed and he played his senior year.   Made first team all conference and led team in scoring for conference games.  Still made layups and shot threes but did not attack the goal like he had in the past.  You would see him take off at times then pull up when it clicked with him.  Got a tough concussion taking a charge that was a little scary. 

Both of my younger two played D1 baseball and played basketball and football. 

@Qhead posted:

I suspect most here would disagree, but I say play basketball.  You only get HS once, it is a great sport with different types of movements and muscle groups used v. baseball, and training for baseball in the winter is boring v. live hoops game with fans!!  Let's just hope they have a season!!

My son was a DII commit and played basketball his Senior year.  I don't think his coach knew or cared - and I think he would have encouraged it in any event.  I will tell you one thing - one of the most cherished memories I will ever have was when my son hit a game winning basket to beat a conference rival.  As much as I love baseball, I think I enjoyed watching him play basketball more, likely because it was his "second" sport where he could just enjoy it and have fun without pressures of recruiting.  I'd want that for any kid.

When basketball ends, take a week off then start back up with baseball.

+1million!

My son played basketball and loved every minute of it.  It was just fun.  Like you I love baseball, but watching him play hoops was the best of all.

In my opinion playing other sports only makes you a better athlete.  When basketball was over my son was in far better shape than any baseball training.  He used to run circles around the guys who were in baseball year round.  Your body needs a break, its best to develop other muscles/skills and move your body in different ways.  Baseball as we all know is so repetitive. 

A teammate of my sons two years ahead of him was a top D1 pitching commit to a big time program.  The coaches there encouraged him to continue playing hoops even though he was committed to them for baseball.  Sadly, he's now had two TJ surgeries and his baseball career is done.

So long story short I would highly encourage him to continue playing basketball while he can.  In college my son rolled his ankle playing pickup with the basketball team (he has a history of them), baseball coach pulled him aside and told him, hey, no more basketball for now on ok.