Agreed Rabid, Ryan Anderson is the only other kid that tall and lefty to go in the 1st round...
There are a lot of BS replies in this thread - the 6'5 left handed kid who could throw 90mph? You would have had major league, not college, scouts all over you assuming you played any kind of organized baseball. I'm not sure if you are just making stuff up, or if you are talking about the radar guns at the city fair.
"honestly a lot of 17-18 yr olds can throw in the high 80's" - no, actually, they can't. You will be lucky to find 4 kids in any HS conference that are throwing in the high 80's
The kids in the little league WS - remember that the pitchers mound in that isn't 60 feet 6 inches, its much closer. Not to take away anything from some of those kids who are truly talented players for their age, but you almost NEVER see pitchers from the LLWS make it to pro ball - I think there have been 25 players, but I can't think of any pitchers - kids throwing that much breaking stuff at that age have very little chance of keeping their arm healthy. I topped out at 85/86 my jr year - and that was after 3 straight years of year-round baseball training, which was about 3-4 mph faster than I went into college with.
I played NCAA baseball in Division III, where I lead my team in hitting and was a pitcher as well as a Freshman, then I played 2 years of Big Ten baseball, and played another 9 years after college, pitching each and every year. I can tell you that 90mph fastballs are just not very common, and unless you are highly unmotivated, you can at least get a shot in the minors if you have one - I don't want to hear any of this crap about "I could throw 85 when I was 16, but I stopped playing" - that is BS, your coaches and friends would have been all over you to keep playing, because, assuming you could put the ball over the plate, you would have been fairly dominant every time out.
Mechanics are important, but it's ridiculous to say that with proper mechanics "most people could throw in the 80's" - change that to the 60's and you would be much closer.
As to the question of the thread, I don't think it's genetics at all - I don't suppose we'll ever know the real answser to that, but I've seen people of all shapes and sizes throw hard, and I've seen the best built/developed non-baseball athletes struggle to throw the ball 50pmh or in a straight line.
I say it comes from throwing (from the time you are little), solid mechanics, and some level of physical strength - not just arm-strength - I'd say the genetics just might help some pitchers stay healthy while others don't, but I'm no Dr!
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