Most HS and younger baseball parents you talk to overestimate D1 baseball players and underestimate the other levels of college baseball. All of the kids I know who play/are going to play D3 are all very good baseball players. These are really above average HS players, some with very high HS baseball accolades. People definitely underestimate the talent and extra work these guys have had to put in to get that opportunity to play D3 baseball or any level of college baseball. If you are an average HS player you may get an invite to try out for a D3 school but you better make big gains or you won't be on the team playing in the spring.
There are probably D3 programs that are really bad and can't attract talent. There are are also really bad D1 teams. Watch the lower RPI D1 teams and conferences play. They may be local or they even pop up on tv every now and then. Just as all D3 isnt created equal all D1 isnt created equal and there are many kids playing in the ever exhaulted D1 level that are not the top 2% of the HS baseball playing population.
There are D3 pitchers who cruise low 80s, but HS pitchers who only throw low 80s get raked on a regular basis. College pitchers at any level have to have something extra to survive. Some have another gear they can go to when a big strike out is needed, some just have perfect control, and what most people don't realize is the difference in the quality and control of secondary pitches between HS and college level pitchers. If there is a chance go watch a college summer league where the levels will be mixed up "lower" level guys will get out D1 guys all of the time with what looks like underwhelming stuff, but they know how to get outs.
Back to the OP you don't have to play big time travel to play college baseball. If you are shooting for one of the 40-50 D1 schools that are trying to win in Omaha every year then you should be on a team that goes to every big time PG event to maximize your chance of being seen by those coaches. If you are not at that talent level then you can throw all of the other schools regardless of division in a big pot and mix it up. You will have to find a local travel or legion team that lets you keep improving every year and also take that extra money and get bigger, stronger, and faster. You will have to do a lot of research on different college programs and find the best fit baseball and academic wise. Formulate a good plan and execute it. There are many good threads on this site that can be searched to help with that.