Braves Look for 21st Win in a Row with Kris Medlen on the Mound

(Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE)

By Carlos Collazo | @CarlosCollazo__

Kris Medlen has been one of the most talked about pitchers recently, and for good reason. The Braves have won his past 20 starts (dating back to 2010), and he is going for his 21st tonight against Josh Johnson and the Miami Marlins.

I wrote an article a week or two ago on Tomahawk Take and you can check that out if you’d like, but he hasn’t done anything but get better since then so why not have a continued discussion on the reliever-turned ace pitcher?

If you check Fangraphs stats for over the past 30 days, you will find out that Medlen is putting up elite numbers with the best of ‘em.

·         He has the lowest ERA in the majors with .73. The closest to that mark is Cliff Lee with 1.29

·         He has the highest LOB%, with an absolutely ridiculous 95.6% mark. That pretty much means that even if you get on base against Medlen, you have less than a 5% chance of scoring. No biggy right?

·         Kris has the fourth best FIP at 1.75

·         His xFIP is ranked first at 2.08

·         A K/BB ratio of 11 is easily good for first, again topping that Lee fellow.

·         His WHIP is the third best at .81 behind James shields and Yu Darvish

I could keep going on and on giving you guys stat after stat and making you really want Medlen on your fantasy team, but that would probably be kind of boring.

With these numbers, you’re probably thinking, “Hey Kris Medlen has a chance to win the Cy Young Award right?” Well, I don’t know about all that. After all, he has just been starting for just the second half of the season, and there are plenty of guys who have been stellar all year long. But, at the same time, a great second half performance is easily superior to a great first half performance in the eyes of the voters and the effect on your team’s chances of winning—just ask teammates Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens.

Medlen has essentially been the Braves saving grace this year. The offense has been sputtering the past two months, and without Medlen anchoring down the rotation…who knows? We might have seen another epic collapse for Atlanta fans at the end of the year.

But thanks to Medlen, Craig Kimbrel and the rest of MLB’s fourth best bullpen, and the outfield threesome of Jason Heyward, Martin Prado, and Michael Bourn, the Braves are sitting pretty with a 6.5 game lead for the top wild card spot and closing in on the division leading Washington Nationals. While it might be a bit late for the Braves to grab a division championship they are set up pretty well for this infamous one game playoff.

If it does come down to the Braves against the Cardinals/Dodgers/Brewers/Pirates, Atlanta fans should feel pretty confident. Based on how the rotation is set up at this point and the off days that are in the schedule, it should be easy to set up whoever the Braves want for the one game playoff. They have pitchers capable of making a spot start (Ben Sheets, Julio Teheran, and Randall Delgado) to make it happen, and without a doubt, they need to make sure Kris Medlen is throwing that game.

If not, well there’s always Tommy Hanson.

Carlos Collazo writes for Tomahawk Take on FanSided, Big Leagues Monthly and studies Journalism at the University of North Carolina.