BHD - I don't have time right now to read the whole report you posted. I quickly read the introduction. Some quick thoughts:
1. Any school, especially private, has the right to conduct their business within the law however they see fit. Within the discussion we're having, a university has the right to balance (or not balance) academics with athletics or any other non-academic activity (e.g. theatre, music, etc...).
2. You certainly cannot possibly be surprised that nearly every university places a certain amount of value on activities other than academics. This cannot possibly be a surprise to you.
2b. It also cannot possibly be a surprise to you that a superior athlete or musician (if valued by a university) does not require equal grades and/or SAT/ACT scores to the non-athlete/musician/etc... If this is a surprise, then you've been living in a cave. Therefore, I stipulate that athletes have been admitted to Ivies and other elite schools with lower grades and/or test scores. But so what???? (What does this have to do with LHP's velos for D1/D2/D3?)
3. The 'tension' between the various sectors of a university's faculty, administration and alumni on how to balance or not balance has existed forever. There will always be a sector that wants no preference and there will always be a sector that wants heavy preference. And a bunch of people in between. Each school determines its own course. If you don't like your school's level of balance, fight it at the local level. But again, how is this related to LHP velo.?
4. Do the athletes take up slots of other more qualified admission candidates? I submit, at a local (university) level that the answer is a resounding NO! The university determines what their value system will be, they admit the pool of students that most qualify for the student body (as a whole) that they want (this includes diversity on many, many axes), and those who are not admitted fall outside of that space. Do they make mistakes? Of course...they make mistakes in each dimension of that pool for sure. But on average they get what they want. And they live with their mistakes. If they really stink at it, they lose future students and/or funding and/or donations and/or faculty and/or reputation, etc..., etc... But again, how does this answer the question originally asked?
I have no problem with any of this. There are universities that fit nearly every need, whether it be academic, athletic, musical, theatrical, religion, race, gender, nationality, resident state, fill-in-the-blank or some balance of any or all of those dimensions.
Parents of very bright California high school students get frustrated because the truth is that its probably easier for an equal student from Idaho or Canada to get admitted to Stanford than their child. Just because they're from a different state or county!
Stanford likes national and international representation in their student body. Do the Idahoans or the Canadians take up slots that according to some California parents belong to those who achieved equal or better scores from the ultra-competitve HS across the street?' The answer is no. Its what that university decided it wants in a student body.
You probably couldn't understand this from far away...but the multi-dimensional diversity is one of the things that makes Stanford a very special place.
But I diverge. The truth is, unless you throw high 80's (or better) consistently, with command, the odds say you probably won't be a high impact pitcher at a high D1. But there are always exceptions and if you believe you are that, there is no way for me to say you are not. Go for it!