Frank-
I agree with your post. I thought we were saying the same thing. Mid-80's is the min (as a general rule), not 79-82 regardless of which side you throw it from.
IF Dad-
If you reread my post, all I said said was that if this kid is throwing in the 70's with command and control, he may get a look a thte D3 level. The lower you go, the better chance the kid will have to play, but certainly, even at the D2 or D3 levels, they still have guys throwing gas, just not as many as D1.
His original question was about DI. I don't think it is realistic even at 81-82 (as a general rule even if you're a LHP) you will get any serious looks at the mid-top DI level. This isn't to say the kid couldn't get there. It's just stacked against him.
Velocity still rules the evaluation. If you look at the recent Area Code tryouts (at least in Texas), they culled the pitchers based on velocity. If you didn't touch 90, you probably didn't make the scrimmage round. I think there were 1 or 2 that were mid-upper 80's that got through that round, but they were LHP and didn't make the final cut. No points were given for command and control.