When the Braves traded for Mark Teixeira last year there was one prospect I was really disappointed about losing (for clarification, most of those prospects I was disappointed about losing, but there was one I was "really" disappointed about), and that was left-handed starter Matt Harrison. In the 2003 draft the Braves selected Jo-Jo Reyes in the second round and Matt Harrison in the third round, so in the eyes of the Braves, Reyes was the better prospect to keep.

There was not too much I could point to statistically to say that I liked Harrison more than Reyes, except for the fact that Harrison averaged almost half an inning more per appearance than did Reyes. Harrison was not overpowering and he wasn't really a strikeout guy, not that Reyes was defined as a strikeout guy either, but he certainly racked up more than Harrison.

My desire to keep Harrison over Reyes was what I considered Matt's pitchability over Jo-Jo. Now I realize that one really can't define pitchability consistently, but I throw it out there because it's one of those things that you either see in a pitcher or you don't -- and I saw it in Harrison. I liked the fact that he had racked up almost 150 more innings in the minor leagues than Reyes had, even though a lot of that was due to Reyes missing time because of injuries. Those extra innings amount to an extra half-season to season of experience for Harrison. What I had seen of the two told me that while both were good prospects and smart pitchers, Harrison was the better of the two (I was occasionally chastised for this opinion, and may still be).

Here's how they compare this year (keeping in mind that Jo-Jo had 50.2 innings of experience last year):

Pretty damn equal, I'd say. They both are having problems with giving up too many hits and walks, and both are having some great games and some not so great games. The Rangers are certainly scoring a lot more runs for Harrison than the Braves have scored for Jo-Jo, which results in a better record.

Two lessons here, (1) what the hell do I know about young pitchers (not a lot), and (2) it's probably way too early to tell which guy will be more successful in the majors. There's a lot of pressure on Reyes when he starts against the Mets tonight. The Braves seem to be losing a bit of patience with him as he hasn't made any great strides to make them think that he can be successful long-term in the majors. He has made improvements over last year, but he is still susceptible to being made to look like he has no business pitching above rookie ball.

These two pitchers will be one of the ways we measure the Teixeira trade in the coming years, so we will certainly keep our eye on both of them in the future.