John Sickels of Minor League Ball posed an interesting question on Wednesday. "If you could have Matt Wieters or Stephen Strasburg for your favorite major league team right now, who would you pick and why?"
Matt Wieters is an uber-prospect for the Baltimore Orioles. He is a 22 year-old switch hitting catcher whose 6'5" and 230 lb. He was ranked the number 1 overall minor league prospect by Baseball America and Sickels says of Wieters, "(He's the) best prospect in baseball. Mutant cross between Mauer and Piazza." In 2008 WIeters split his year between High-A and Double-A and hit a cool .355/.454/.600. He's also considered a great defensive catcher. He only had 3 passed balls all of last year and threw out 40% of potential base stealers. He should be in the majors sometime in the next few weeks and figures to stay around for a long time.
Stephen Strasburg is considered the consenus #1 prospect in this year's amateur draft. Strasburg is a 20 year-old right-handed pitcher at San Diego State University. He is 6'4", 220 lb., can touch 100 MPH with movement, throws a good mid 80's curveball and a changeup, and has pinpoint control. In 2008 he had a 1.57 ERA with a 133/16 K/BB ratio in 97 innings. In 2009 he had a 1.54 ERA with a 135/13 K/BB ratio in 70.1 innings. He also only allowed 4 home runs in his three year college career. Strasburg was the only college player on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Baseball team. Some people think he could be the best prospect ever and he may be in some lucky team's rotation as soon as this year. Here's a bio by Sickels.
So, which one of these young studs would you rather have on the Dodgers and why? Wieters actually has professional experience and doesn't come with the health risks that pitchers have, but we already have Russell Martin and Strasburg is considered by some to be an even brighter star. Do you grab Wieters and move one of the young catchers to 1st/3rd base? Does Martin become trade bait? Do you take Strasburg and fill a huge need by immediately slotting him into the #5 spot in our rotation, forming a deadly Billingsley/Kershaw/Strasburg trio for the next five years? The choice is yours.