Braves eager to show off Hanson

February 24, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) — When Tommy Hanson arrived for his first big league camp, he was assigned to a corner of the Atlanta Braves’ clubhouse with a bunch of other guys wearing football-like numbers.

The barely-out-of-high-schoolers. The journeymen. The guys who’ll spend their season in outposts such as Mississippi and Myrtle Beach.

In fact, Hanson only has half a locker. He must share his stall with another non-roster invitee, Kris Medlen.

But this inglorious, crowded spot is merely a stopping-off point for Hanson, a chance for him to get a sampling of life in the majors before he claims a more prominent position. This is the guy who’s supposed to restore the luster to the Braves’ rotation, the one who’ll provide a link to a glorious era when pitchers named Smoltz and Maddux and Glavine were in their prime.

“This kid is going to be a No. 1 starter in Atlanta soon,” Braves star Chipper Jones said. “There’s no holding him back. Even if I had to go to a six-man rotation, I would do it, just to get this kid some experience and get him on his way.”

Spring training is overrun with hyped-up prospects who’ll never spend a day in the big leagues, but it’s hard not to get excited about this laid-back, 6-foot-6 Californian with the dazzling right arm. The slider, said manager Bobby Cox, is a lot like the one thrown by John Smoltz. That’s a good comparison, said Jones, except Hanson has a wider repertoire than the only pitcher in baseball history to win 200 games and save 150.

The Braves might have acquired San Diego ace Jake Peavy during the offseason, if only they had been willing to give up a player who’s never pitched above Double-A.

They weren’t.

“I’d love to see him come down here and dazzle and make this club,” Jones said. “I think he can pay immediate dividends.”

Sitting on the far side of the clubhouse, a wall separating him from the more established members of the team, Hanson merely smiles when asked about all the hype.

“I’m not a flashy guy. I’m not a guy where that’s going to go to my head,” Hanson said. “If everyone wants to write how good I am or how good I can be, go for it. It’s fun to read that stuff. It’s cool. But it’s not going to affect me or anything like that.”

Hanson is coming off a breakthrough year in which he dominated for two different minor league teams and was basically untouchable in the hitter-friendly Arizona Fall League.

At Class-A Myrtle Beach, he needed only seven starts to earn a promotion, going 3-1 with a 0.90 ERA and allowing a minuscule 15 hits in 40 innings. He moved up to Mississippi, where he threw a no-hitter in his ninth Double-A start and went on to post a record of 8-4 with a 3.03 ERA in 18 appearances. He had 114 strikeouts in 98 innings at the higher level, including a career-best 14 in one start.

Hanson really turned it on in the desert. While the Arizona Fall League is normally known for its lofty hitting stats, the Braves prospect went 5-0 with a 0.63 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 282‚Ñ3 innings. He was selected MVP, the first pitcher to claim the award.