Grading the Matt Harvey, Max Scherzer Picks for MLB All-Star Game Starters

The final piece of the All-Star puzzle was put into place on Monday afternoon, when managers Bruce Bochy and Jim Leyland announced that Matt Harvey and Max Scherzer will be the starting pitchers for the midsummer classic. 

In this age of pitching domination, both managers had no shortage of options to choose from, so they could have gone in any number of directions while earning both praise and backlash. 

Here, we are going to take a deeper look at the selections of Harvey and Scherzer to determine whether they made the right choice. Again, with so much elite pitching in both leagues right now, you can be splitting hairs. 

Grading the selection of Matt Harvey

Let's start with the obvious: Harvey is the most exciting and talked about young pitcher in baseball right now. Whenever he starts, Twitter erupts with a barrage of Harvey Day hashtags that you would think a Sharknado was getting ready to hit. 

The fact that Harvey pitches for the Mets and this year's All-Star game is in Citi Field made it clear weeks ago that the 24-year-old would be the choice to start this superstar showcase. Oh yeah, there was also the deal of last week with the team skipping his final start before the break to give him extra rest. 

Unless his arm literally fell off, there was no way that Harvey was not starting this game. 

It also helps that Harvey has the numbers to support him being the showcase pitcher for the National League this year. His career started late last year with a stellar debut that included 70 strikeouts and an ERA+ of 140 in 59.1 innings. 

But that was just the warm-up act, as Harvey has been even better in 2013. Through 19 starts, the Mets' phenom has racked up a league-leading 147 strikeouts, cut his walk rate in half (3.9 in 2012 to 1.9 this season) and allowed just 119 base runners in 130 innings of work. His ERA of 2.35 is tied for third in the NL. 

Harvey also leads the league in strikeout percentage (29.3) and Fielding Independent ERA (2.17). He has had five starts this year where he has struck out at least 10 batters and has pitched at least seven innings 13 times. 

The only other contender to start the game for the National League, at least to me, was Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw. St. Louis' Adam Wainwright would have been in the mix, but he withdrew from the game after pitching on Sunday. 

As great as Harvey is, Kershaw is the best pitcher in baseball and would be the Cy Young winner. The 25-year-old leads the league in ERA (1.98), ERA+ (181, 28 points better than Harvey), hits allowed per nine innings (6.0) and WHIP (0.91). He also ranks second behind Wainwright in innings pitched (145.1) with 16 of his 20 starts lasting at least seven innings. 

Despite Kershaw's stellar resume, there is no way anyone is going to argue with Harvey starting the game. The Mets badly need something to cheer about right now. Harvey has been a lightning rod for conversation all season, and his performance more than justifies being the first one out of the dugout on Tuesday night. 

Plus, as great as Kershaw's stuff is, who doesn't want to see Harvey crank the heater up to 99 followed by that low-90s slider a few times with a lineup that features Mike Trout, Robinson Cano, Miguel Cabrera and Chris Davis at the top? 

Grade: A

Grading the selection of Max Scherzer

There was some pseudo-nepotism working with Scherzer's selection since he plays for the Tigers and Leyland is managing the AL squad. But in a game like this, you also want to see a pitcher who can bring electric stuff and strikeout some of the best hitters the game has to offer. 

Unlike Leyland, who pointed to Scherzer's win-loss record as the reason for starting him at the press conference, I would note that the right-hander is one of two AL starters with a strikeout rate in double digits (10.55, trailing only Texas' Yu Darvish) as sound logic for starting him.

There is also the consistency he has shown from start to start by striking out at least six hitters in every game he has pitched. He ranks ninth in ERA (3.19) but is second with a 2.68 FIP. 

However, unlike Harvey who has the advantage of dominating performance and the game being in his home park, there are several arguments to be made against Scherzer starting in this spot and most of them have to do with the brilliance of Felix Hernandez. 

The Seattle right-hander leads the league in innings (138.2), ERA (2.53), ranks second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.38, behind teammate Hisashi Iwakuma's 5.95 and ahead of Scherzer's 4.90). 

Chicago's Chris Sale is also an interesting study. He can't touch Hernandez or Scherzer in innings (just 120.0), but the lefty does own the third-best strikeout rate in the AL (9.83) and a nearly-identical strikeout-to-walk ratio with Scherzer (4.90 to 4.85). He also owns the third best WHIP in the league (1.01) and is fourth in FIP (2.94). 

Another pitcher who would warrant serious consideration to start for the AL if he weren't on the DL is Texas' Yu Darvish, who is a better strikeout artist than anyone in baseball and boasts the best raw stuff in the sport. 

We have gone long past the point of using wins and losses as a way to evaluate how good or bad a pitcher is. Does anyone think Scherzer is the best pitcher in baseball because of a 13-1 record? 

But Leyland apparently still sees it as a good measure of what a pitcher is doing and also did his best pitcher a favor. I would have had Scherzer third on my list of potential AL starters before Darvish got hurt, but nothing would have pushed him ahead of Hernandez. 

That said, Scherzer still has a great arm and can excite the fans watching in Citi Field and all over the world. But that doesn't make him the right/best choice for the All-Star start. 

Grade: B+