Who You Got? Matt Harvey vs. Julio Teheran

We've all played the "would you rather" game with baseball players. If you're starting a franchise, who would you rather have? Or for one at bat with the game on the line?

What could make that hypothetical more fun? Asking actual talent evaluators who they would rather have. This season, we'll take some of the best players/groups in baseball and ask scouts and executives who they'd take in a head-to-head situation, with a breakdown of their respective tools on baseball's 20-80 scale to illustrate why.

The level of fame is not similar because one plays in New York and the other plays in Cobb County, Georgia, but Matt Harvey and Julio Teheran are both having "remarkably" disappointing seasons in 2017. Both have ERAs over 5.00, and both have struggled to miss bats. Even so, these are two of the more talented arms in the National League, and each has shown flashes of brilliance this season.

So with both on somewhat similar career paths, I thought it'd be fun to ask an American League Central scout which one he'd rather have.

"Neither one of these guys throws soft, but Harvey has a pretty clear edge in his heater, at least in terms of velocity. I don't see him in the high 90s very often anymore, but he's usually 93-95 miles per hour and he's deceptive with it. Teheran might command his fastball a little more with slightly more movement, but he's a few ticks behind Harvey, and that does matter.… Both [have] good heaters but I'd take Harvey's."

Grade:

Harvey 70
Teheran 60

"This is a fun comparison, because both of these guys throw a slider and a curve, but rely heavily on the slider. Harvey's slider is the better swing-and-miss pitch, because it has more velocity and a little more bite to it. Teheran's is more of a sweeping pitch, but I think he does a better job of locating the pitch than Harvey does. I also think Teheran's curve is ahead of Harvey's, but neither guy has a great one. I think I'd give Teheran a slight edge here."

Grade:

Harvey 60
Teheran 65

"Easily Harvey's. Harvey's change when he's at his best is a real out pitch, especially when hitters are cheating on the fastball. Teheran's change is more of a show-me pitch than anything else, and it's too firm without enough deception for me to call it anything but that."

Grade:

Harvey 60
Teheran 45

"Right now, it has to be Teheran, even though his control and command haven't exactly been great as I look at these stats. Harvey is just struggling to locate anything, though, and he's either putting guys on via walk or missing his spots to get hit hard. That's a bad combination."

Grade:

Harvey 40
Teheran 50

"I like both of these arms a lot, but it really comes down to ceiling and floor. I know what Teheran is going to give me. He's a guy who is going to throw 180-200 innings of quality baseball and keep me in games. He's not an ace, but he's not a back-end starter. It's fine.

"But I like ceiling, and that's why I take Harvey. Yeah, there's some work to be done here, and the volatility scares the (heck) out of me, but when he's doing his thing, he's as good as anyone. I can't forget how dominant he was just a few years ago. Teheran is nice, but he's never going to be that top of the rotation dude that Harvey is. I'd rather take the chance."