Tommy Hanson Backing The Hype

Well there's no doubt that this has been an up-and-down season for the Atlanta Braves. Where one facet of the game has been stellar, another area would breakdown.

Young phenom, Tommy Hanson is apparently immune to his team's struggles, however.

Hanson burst onto the scene in the Arizona Fall League this past off season when he won the hitting dominated league's MVP. He won five of seven starts, and had 28.2 innings pitched, 49 strikeouts, and a 0.63 ERA.

That came on the heels of throwing a no-hitter at AA-Mississippi last season.

The legend was born.

All he's done since joining the Atlanta Braves is go 4-0, with a 2.48 ERA and 18 K's in 29 innings-pitched. The last 20.1 of those innings Hanson has not allowed a run. Out of those 20.1 innings pitched, the last 12 have come against the powerful Yankees and Red Sox.

As a result, Hanson became the first NL rookie to ever beat those two teams back-to-back.

After getting lit up against the Brewers in his MLB debut, Hanson has given up only two earned runs in four starts.

He has quickly become a constant on one of the more inconsistent teams in all of baseball.

On Sunday, Hanson came to the field sick. Manager Bobby Cox said that as of last night Hanson was not going to pitch on Sunday because he was so sick. As a matter of fact, Cox sent him home yesterday when he came to the park.

He then stepped to the mound and made the best start of his career to date.

I know it's early, but Hanson looks like he's everything he was cracked up to be. A few more wins and strikeouts and we'll start hearing Rookie of the Year talk surrounding Hanson.

If his last five games are any indication of what's to come, this Braves rotation might become the best rotation to ever miss out on the playoffs.

If only phenom-hitting prospect, right fielder Jason Heyward was as ready to cash-in on his hype as Hanson was.