Tommy Hanson Watch
Tommy Hanson, the Braves’ 22-year-old pitching phenom could bring his blazing fastballs in a flash from AAA to the big club with the possibility of Tom Glavine’s retirement in the not-too-distant future.
We’ve spoken about Hanson a few times on MopUpDuty before, profiling him here and tracking his progress in the Arizona Fall League here.
The news today is an injury to Tom Glavine’s left shoulder. To be more specific, a strained rotator cuff (something Kman and I both know a lot about) and Glavine will require two weeks of rest before picking up a baseball. Glavine said if he’s not convinced in two weeks that he’s seeing improvement in his pain level or the strength in his shoulder, he’ll consider hanging it up.
“I’m not interested in a season-long rehab or ‘Let’s try this for a month or two,’ ” Glavine said. “I did that last year. I don’t want to do it myself, and I don’t want to do it to this team. It’s not fair to them.” This thing has logged a lot of innings,” he said of his shoulder. “Sooner or later it’s going to tell me I can’t do this anymore. I hope this isn’t what it’s trying to tell me, but I’m prepared if it is.”
The 6’6″ 210lbs Hanson has 2 starts so far for the AAA Gwinnett Braves. He has pitched 10 innings, striking out 17 and walking only 4. His ERA stands at a sparkling 0.90. Glavine’s time has passed and Hanson’s time is now. The Braves need to trade the old model Tom in for the younger model Tommy.
His arb clock should be just about in line to where the Braves can squeeze another year of control out of Hanson. Looks like he’ll be a stud.
Callum, have a Q.
Cecil or Hanson?
That’s a great question. They are both the same age, but Hanson is a little bit further along the development curve. That being said, he also has more minor league experience than Cecil. Right now I would rather have Hanson, but in the future I think Cecil will develop more. I am also a victim of reverse-hometown-bias which is thinking your own prospect isn’t as good because he is your own prospect. So, at the end of the day, it’s a push… maybe Cecil gets the nod because of the lefty arm.
If I know Tommy, Hell bring it home just like he said he would when he was tweleve!!