A coaching acquaintance of mine pitched in D1 and then finished up pitching in D3 after having Tommy John and transferring. He is a pretty good hitter and I asked him if he thought he could have hit D1 and/or D3 pitching. He said there was no way he could have hit D1. D3 he actually got 3 pinch hit at bats and went 1 for 3, and he felt confident he could have hit .250 or so vs D3 if given the opportunity. He said the big difference was that in D3 you would occasionally face a great D1 type pitcher but in general the D3 pitchers were hittable but that in D1 they were all beasts. Just one perspective but he is only 26 years old so a fairly recent perspective