Medlen indifferent between starting and relieving

In a piece he wrote for this month's issue of Chop Talk magazine, Kris Medlen writes that he is indifferent between starting and relieving:

I honestly don't have a preference between starting and relieving. I like pitching. I'm a versatile guy, and I just want to be in a position to help my team. I want the guys to trust me with that job.

Honestly, this puff piece doesn't tell us much. What's he going to say? That he hates relieving and demands to be traded if he's not returned to his starting role?

Medlen as a starter: 18 1/3 IP, 19 K, 11 BB, 6.38 ERA
Medlen as a reliever: 49 1/3 IP, 53 K, 19 BB, 3.47 ERA

As a reliever in 2009, Medlen was used thirteen times for two or more innings, seemingly leaving open the possibility of an eventual return to the rotation. I've mentioned before that I think handcuffing Medlen to Tommy Hanson's starts for a long relief role would be a creative way to limit Hanson's innings in just his second major league season.



This article can also be viewed at the Braves Baseball Blog.

Hanson dominates, Braves roll

Well, we'd been expecting it since the first of June, but we didn't get it until the first of August: Tommy Hanson's first utterly dominant performance (6 2/3 IP, 9 K, 0 BB, 7 H, 1 ER). The Braves bats also stayed hot, delivering eight runs of support for Hanson's seventh win of the season.

Given the outcome, the game did not begin quite as auspiciously as you might expect. The Nationals got on the board in the top of the first when a Ryan Zimmerman single drove home Nyjer Morgan. But it was all Braves from there.

Matt Diaz opened scoring for Atlanta in the bottom of the second with his patented RBI double play groundout, driving in Brian McCann. Martin Prado put the Braves ahead for good in the third with an RBI double that plated Ryan Church, who was filling in at center for Nate McLouth (a late scratch with a sore hamstring). Church and Yunel Escobar would later join Prado with RBI doubles of their own, putting the game out of reach early (6-1 after 5 innings).

Eric O'Flaherty and Manny Acosta combined for 2 and 1/3 scoreless innings of relief to close out the game.

Notes:

Chipper Jones, a late addition to the lineup was 2 for 4 with a solo homerun, a single, and a walk.

Elsewhere, the Rockies were beaten by the Pirates, and the Phillies held off the Cubs in extra frames, putting the Braves 3.5 games back of the wild card and holding at 4.5 back in the NL East.

Talented Mr Hanson squares off against the not-so-talented Lannan

Wow. What a weekend it was. By taking three out of four from the Dodgers, the Braves have reinserted themselves into the National League playoff picture (according to Baseball Prospectus, they increased their odds if amking the playoffs by 12%). Of course, I missed all of the action as I took a long weekend and was otherwise occupied for most of it.

But, lucky you, I have returned. And, lucky Braves, the lowly Nationals come to town tonight. Taking the mound for Washington will be the lightly-skilled John Lannan (148 2/3 IP, 64 K, 44 BB).

His opponent will be Tommy Hanson, who is showing that he's slowly getting acclimated to big league hitters (monthly K/9 trend: 5.6, 6.5, 7.5). But he still needs to improve his control of the strike zone (29 BB in 67 IP). He'll need his best stuff tonight against the Nationals, who know how to work deep into counts (remember, it's their anemic pitching staff that has done them in).

Hanson v Gaudin in early afternoon game

In an early afternoon matchup against the Padres, Atlanta will send Tommy Hanson to the hill. Hanson's strikeout rate is finally starting to climb (6.5 K/9 over the last month), and he'll look to build upon that success this afternoon. Hanson and his 45% year-to-date flyball ratio stand to benefit from the spacious outfield of PETCO.

Hanson's opponent will be Chad Gaudin, who has reinvented himself as a strikeout pitcher this season (102 K in as many innings pitched). At the same time, Gaudin has had some difficulty controlling the strike zone. He's walked 54 batters so far this season. A selective approach by the Atlanta lineup may precipitate an early call to the bullpen.

Braves can't take advantage of Gallardo's wildness

Neither Yovani Gallardo (7 1/3 IP, 6 K, 4BB, 9H, 0 ER) nor Tommy Hanson (7 IP, 1 K, 2BB, 4H, 2 ER) were as effective as they've shown they can be. Still, neither team did very much to take advantage until Yovani Gallardo squared to bunt with two on in the bottom of the fifth. When Hanson threw the pitch, however, Gallardo pulled his bat back and hit a single that bounced just over the head of Chipper Jones. Gallardo has proven before that he's no slouch with the bat, and this proved to be the only run the Brewers would need to put the Braves away.

Elsewhere, the Rockies beat the Giants 8-2, putting the Braves 3.5 games (and four losses) back of the Rockies for the wild card spot.

Gallardo, Hanson take the mound in battle of talented young arms

Yovani Gallardo of the Brewers was born just six months before the Braves Thomas Hanson (almost to the day), but the former has been on the MLB scene for three seasons now, while Mr Hanson made his first start on June 7th of this year.

Hanson dominated AAA to the tune of 99 K, 17 BB, 40 H, and a sparkling 1.49 ERA in 66 1/3 innings pitched. When Hanson was called up to the big leagues his surface statistics remained outstanding (8 ER in 29 IP, including four wins), but there was reason to wonder how long it would last (16 K/17BB over that same stretch).

But ever since his start against the Nationals on the Fourth of July, Hanson has turned it around, striking out 18 batters in just 19 innings while walking just six. It will be interesting to see if Hanson has finally turned the corner.

Yovani Gallardo, on the other hand, has been heading in the opposite direction of late. Gallardo had a 2.86 ERA through the end of June, striking out 9.4 batters per nine innings. But since the beginning of July, Gallardo's control has been slipping. In his last 23 IP, Gallardo has walked 13 batters. Gallardo's past performance suggests he'll get back on track eventually. The Braves will just hope he waits until his next start to do so.