Have we seen this before?

For as much ballyhoo as has been made of the sparkling debut of Braves rookie Tommy Hanson (4-0 with a 2.25 ERA in his first six starts, with a fifth win going by the wayside after a blown save), Braves fans should not yet anoint this guy the savior of the franchise. Atlanta has been treated to hot starts before, some even more impressive than Hanson’s.
In 1990 Steve Avery arrived in Atlanta as 20 year-old phenom ready to take on the world. Avery struggled to a 3-11 record, but in his first full season, the 21 year-old posted an 18-8 record with a 3.38 ERA. Avery threw three complete games and tossed in a shutout. Following an 11-11 campaign in 1992, the lefty gave his best season as a Brave with an 18-6 record. After the 1993 season though, Avery’s career spiraled down and down and down until he left Atlanta for stints in Boston and Detroit. In Avery’s seven years with the Braves, he made one all-star team and went 72-62 with a 3.83 ERA. Many consider him the last true ace the Braves have developed for Atlanta’s benefit. Jason Schmidt and Adam Wainwright have both blossomed with other teams.
In the off-season leading up to the 2005 season, the Braves acquired Jorge Sosa from Tampa Bay and Sosa helped lead the Braves back to the postseason with a 13-3 record. Sosa’s 2.55 ERA and ability to get out of jams helped the Braves win the franchise’s most recent division title. However Sosa could not sustain the success and the next season was all downhill to the tune of a 3-10 record and a trip out of town. He was shipped to St. Louis for spare parts and left many fans wondering what had happened and promising never again to be hoodwinked by the early success of a young hurler.
Clearly now though you want to think that Hanson will be able to sustain his early success. Hanson was the first pitcher ever to win the MVP of the hitter-friendly Arizona Fall League. Hanson dominated Class AA-Mississippi last season, even firing a seven-inning no-hitter. This spring Hanson was arguably the most effective pitcher at the team’s spring training camp. He showed a quick fastball, a knee-buckling curve and a masterful breaking ball. The Braves brass felt he needed to polish up in Class AAA-Gwinnett and he did until his June 3 call-up. Now that the 22-year-old right-hander is wearing the Atlanta tomahawk, he has energized the Turner Field crowd in a way that Sosa never did, but Jeff Francoeur did after his 2005 promotion. People have flocked to the Ted for Hanson’s starts and Hanson has delivered. Recently Hanson ran off 26 straight scoreless innings, three more than the current streak of the reigning Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum. The boy wonder has allowed just 10 runs in 36 innings and seven of those came in his debut, a game the Braves won. In fact, the Braves are 5-1 in his starts and though the strikeouts and the triple-digit radar gun readings haven’t been as Paul Bunyan-esque as everyone expected, perhaps it is because people were expecting too much. This was the centerpiece of the proposed trade for Cy Young award winner Jake Peavy that Braves GM refused to part with. This was the guy that would help ease Braves fans’ concerns after John Smoltz was allowed to leave the team after 20 years.
And perhaps it is in John Smoltz where Braves fans have seen this before. Smoltz led the Braves to the World Series in just his third full season with Atlanta before going on to the 1996 Cy Young award, 8 all-star game appearances, 210 wins and 154 saves. Braves fans should hope that Hanson is most like Smoltz, who constantly reinvented himself and gave the franchise 20 years of greatness and with Atlanta became the winningest pitcher in postseason history.
Hanson must keep a level head and not let early success get to him. He is surrounded by veterans of the game such as Chipper Jones and Bobby Cox, and his battery mate, Brian McCann, is one of the best catchers in the game. He has the tools to be great and the potential to sustain the success. The key will be to realize that potential and become a mainstay in Atlanta for years to come. Braves fans have seen other pitchers come and go; they are hoping he is more Smoltz than Sosa, more early-Avery than late-Avery.