Both are obvious tremendous prospects. But the health risk to a pitcher is important, if I am running the team. Wieters has also been amazing at higher levels of competition. Factoring in the Mike Piazza hitting catcher who is Johnny Bench like behind the plate defensively, makes him more rare than a top flight Ace SP. I also am among the believers that Strasburgs pitches in his arm are limited before an injury strikes. If I Was the Nats, I would sign him and use him up for as long as possible before his arm needs TJ surgery or worse.
Its close, but Wieters is my guy.

Wieters has already dominated minor league pitching and an amazing hitting and good defensive catcher is just as rare as a bonafide no1 SP. Then take into account the fact that Strasburg has yet to throw a professional pitch and already some questions are being raised about potential injuries from his delivery and you have to take Wieters. Obviously any team would be lucky to have either though.

Though one cannot have enough pitching, specially “elite” prospect types… Wieters seems more of a “sure” thing. Potentially great hitting catchers are a rare thing indeed, and his defense isn’t awful right?

I’d pick Wieters, just due to the rarity of the position.

I have faith in Flowers and we have two starters right now in the rotation who should have retired a couple years ago. The offense will be there, the rotation has a couple huge question marks though. Strasburg could potentially make them a contender for the next decade.

Wieters. He’s a certified stud who’s almost big league ready. Plus, he offers awesome offense at a position that has the most no-hit guys. Strasburg should be good, but the injury risk inherant in pitching makes him a much less sure thing.
Unless you’ve got Joe Mauer or Brian McCann, I don’t see how a team wouldn’t be better off with Wieters.
Strasburg might end up having the better career, but I’d put my money on Wieters.

Callis had a question in a recent mailbag (can’t link because I take the magazine, not the online) wherein he was asked a similar question, about where Strasburg would rank in the top 100 if he were eligible. He put him right behind Price and Wieters, citing proximity to the big leagues (and, in Price’s case, playoff experience). I’d be inclined to agree with him.

What was more shocking in that same column, was that he said Bryce Harper, were he eligible, would slot in at #4 (!) behind Strasburg. As a high school sophomore?!

before injury strikes. I’ll take the 5 extra years before Matt breaks down.

Even if Strasburg doesn’t, after 6 years, he goes FA and puts Sabathia’s contract to shame.

There is NO team in baseball that should take Strasburg over the best bat in the minors (that also happens to be a catcher).

I also find it funny that some people are saying that this whole “Wieters is Jesus” thing is getting overplayed, yet no mention of “Strasburg is Jesus” is getting overplayed? The kid has faced far inferior talent in college than a lot of other good pitching prospects. I recognize that his stuff is tremendous, but at this point it is MUCH more of a stretch to call Strasburg a future All-Star than it is Wieters a future All-Star. He’s further from the bigs, a pitcher, and we really don’t know how good he will be against AA talent even. Sure, we can make a leap of faith, but to me Strasburg is way more over-hyped than Wieters at this point.

The Phillies could literally use help at both positions. However as much as I love Wieters, I probably would lean towards Strasburg.

Our rotation has not been healthy this year, and there really is not depth in our rotation. Strasburg and Hamels would give us an amazing 1-2 punch in the rotation. If you couple them with our offense it should carry us back to the Series if not the championship.

I think Suzuki is very underrated and I think he’s the best position prospect the A’s have developed in years. That being said I would take Wieters in a second over Strasburg since he’s closer to the bigs, less injury risk and a more complete impact player.

I think Wieters would make a decent league average or above DH in a year or two and he plays catcher with good defensive scouting reports. Pitchers are much less predictable as well as injury prone. Certain pitches seem to fool guys in the low minors (let alone college) that are more or less useless in the big leagues.

They have Soto - BOOM!

I think every post should be qualified with “but either guy is a great choice and a special talent… you really cant go wrong.”

Matt Wieters has an extra 1/2 year of minor league experience. Great last year. Not quite yet in tiny sample at AAA.

Wieters signed for a ~ $6M bonus.

Wieters was picked behind David Price.

Strasburg by most accounts is a better prospect than Price.

Strasburg will likely command a bonus or guaranteed cash of at least $15M

Cash doled out by real Major League teams is a better proxy for true value than most comments on this site (or any site).

Yes, pitchers have higher injury risk, but that is already factored into bonus payments and draft status as MLB teams know this.

Johan Santana is worth more as Free Agent than Joe Mauer. (i.e., an Ace SP is worth more than the game’s best catcher — pitching is more valuable to real MLB teams).

Wieters is likely the exception, but catching prospects frequently underachieve with the bat at the MLB level.

So the above all says that 30 out of 30 teams draft Strasburg out of college over Wieters out of college (assuming that they were the same age). Does Wieters 1/2 season of terrific results at A+/AA really change the minds of 16 MLB teams? NO