I’ll do my best:

Tommy Hanson, RHP
Born: August 28, 1986
Height: 6’ 6”
Weight: 210
Drafted: 2005 22nd Rd out of Riverside CC (California)

Stuff:
Obviously Hanson is a big boy on the mound so we would think he didn’t have a whole lot of room for projection coming into the season and that was the main reason he wasn’t rated as a top 5 prospect by a lot of outlets. But he bucked the trend and reports have been that Hanson has added 2-4 MPH onto his fastball this season raising it from 89-92 most days in the 92-95 range this season. That is kind of the magic land for RHP in the majors. He has solid movement on the pitch and has picked up a little waggle on it since he added the velocity.

Pitches:
Hanson throws 3 pitches right now. His fastball has gone from good to excellent. He throws a power 12-6 curve which is his strike out pitch and has a solid but developing changeup that a lot of young Braves pitchers are known for. I would guess his curve and fastball rate out as + pitches while his curve is considered slightly above average. Tommy has always had solid, but not great control of his pitches and has had a tendency to pitch up in the strike zone giving way to an extreme flyball ratio, something Chuck James has yet to overcome at the major league level.

Mental:
Tommy has always been known as a tough competitor on the mound and will challenge hitters with his stuff. The Braves love guys like this and Kyle Davies had a similar scouting report when he was coming up. He also has the mental acumen to work through his initial struggles after promotions and become an effective pitcher when faced with newer and tougher pitching environments (league not stadium).

Performance:
Hanson has a career K/9IP rate of about 10.35 and he allows somewhere around 10 baserunners per 9IP. His peripherals are very solid across the board and when he gets adjusted to a league he has a nasty habit of giving up very few hits. The only real knock we can find on Hanson in his stats is his fly ball tendency. When he was promoted to MB last year it caught up with him and he gave up 10 homers in 60 innings. This year since his promotion to Mississippi he has allowed 9 in 82.1 innings after allowing none in MB this year. Again, he has always shown he can adjust to a league after a time, but the majors are a different beast and the Atlanta heat during the summer can make some balls fly.

I hope this helps, most of the stuff was pulled from various sources since I haven’t seen Hanson since last season, but I for one, believe he is our best shot right now at a true top tier pitcher. He might be perfect if he didn’t give up so many pop ups.

Remember that Hanson started out in A+ ball this year, and while he’s doing great right now, he’s struggled at first at each level. So with that in mind, do the Braves want him to test his stuff at triple-A or in the majors. The late season call-up this year would make sense in that there would be no pressure on Hanson, and no “demotion” that would have to take place if he didn’t perform. I think if the Braves do call him up, they would probably use him out of the bullpen. There’s no real need to overtax his arm by starting, and the Braves sometimes like to work their young pitchers into the majors in the bullpen where Bobby Cox can put them in situations to succeed.