From a Baseball American Q & A (Response by Jim Callis):

It has been said that Braves righthander Julio Teheran has the best stuff of any 16-year-old pitcher in recent memory. Felix Hernandez was a pitcher in recent memory. How do they compare at the same age?

Steve Haws
Las Vegas

The top pitcher on the Latin American market last summer, Teheran signed for $850,000. A Colombian, he showed off a 94-95 mph fastball, a late-biting 78-79 mph curveball and an 81-82 mph changeup with nice sink during instructional league. I'm anxious to see how he does in his pro debut this year, because he does have the best arm among international amateurs since Hernandez signed with the Mariners for $710,000 in 2002.

We don't have any scouting reports on Hernandez when he was 16. The following year, he was dominating the short-season Northwest League with a mid-90s fastball, a devastating curveball and a changeup. At 6-foot-3 and 170 pounds, Hernandez was an inch taller and 10 pounds heavier than Teheran is now.

In other words, they're very comparable. And that's a good omen for Teheran and the Braves, because Hernandez is the best pitching prospect of the decade thus far. His major league career to this point hasn't been too shabby either. He has gone 30-25, 3.94 with a 418-136 K-BB ratio in 466 innings—and he's still just 21.

This Q&A took place in January ('08). 

Since then, Teheran debuted in the Appy league as a 17 year old.  His stats:

6.60 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 15 IP, 17 K, 4 BBs, 1.27 GO/AO

As you can see, he didn't exactly light the world on fire.  However, the strong strikeout (& K/BB) and groundball rates do make me optimistic about his future.  There is one concern however.  He was shutdown early due to tenderness in the shoulder.  I've read on a few sites that Braves officials have insiststed that it was nothing serious and that they were taking an extra cautious approach with their young arm.  I guess that's somewhat comforting, but we won't know for sure until next season.  At this point, it looks like he will be in Michael Inoa's shadow, but Teheran might have better stuff.

What are your thoughts on Julio Teheran?  Assuming his health is 100%, do you see him making major strides in 2009?  If reports are accurate, his stuff is just filthy.