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Both have great peripheral numbers through 2 starts each.

But who has looked more impressive actually watching the games?

Howell had great command his first game, and not good command his second. Howell only throws in the mid eighties, so unless he's perfect he's gonna have some tough nights. He knows how to pitch though and has good movement.

Sonnanstine had a 4 run inning in his first start, but otherwise pitched really well. He was dominant in his second start.

Edge, IMO, to Sonnanstine.

Sonnanstine has a chance to hang around a long time too, but Howell is likely a journeyman.

They both throw strikes. A rarity these days.

Sonnanstine.

He's got better velocity (90 on his FB) and relentlessly pounds the zone. He's got a bunch of solid secondary pitches, nothing way above average but he uses different arm angles/speeds. He just looks plain hard to get a read on and hit even though he hardly strays far from the strikezone. Slider is a strikeout pitch (he struck out 7 batters in a row on Sunday using mainly this pitch). His "stuff" isn't great but the guy has completely dominated at every level. I think he can be a #2 starter.

Howell's solid but his velocity is way down from were it was even at Durham (87-88). 82-84 on his FB from what I've seen of him this year in the bigs. Nice change that tails away from righties, big slider. His lack of velocity hurts him though, he's got to be so perfect with that FB to even throw it. He's a #4/#5.

Sonnanstine's stuff is awesome. He just makes the occasional mistake pitch that results in a home run. Bu tthen, so does James Shields. He does appear to have awesome control, though.

Howell's strength is his control, but his stuff isn't as good as Sonnanstine's, whose stuff looks really good despite not throwing that hard.

Go to MLB.com and watch the "Sonnatine fans 10" video. Look at the sharp movement that breaking pitch has, from a variety fo arm slots. That's pretty awesome.

Either way, I'm happy to have both. A .500 season is now ascertainable.