Sports Page Atlanta

Tommy Hanson was just named the Southern League’s Pitcher of the Week after his dominant performance yesterday. Hanson did not earn the victory as the game was lost in the late innings, but he threw six innings of shutout ball while only giving up two hits. He also struck out ten batters while only walking one.

For the season, with seven starts in Myrtle Beach and 15 starts in Mississippi, Hanson is 10-4 with a 2.57 ERA. He’s struck out 142 batters while only walking 42 in 122.1 innings.

Hanson continued his sparkling season for the Braves, with two more 10-strikeout games. The 6-foot-6 right-hander has fanned 10 or more in three straight starts and four times overall this season for Mississippi. He has a total of 93 strikeouts in 82 1/3 innings. He shut down the powerful Huntsville lineup Monday, allowing two runs on four hits in six innings for the win. Hanson had no such luck Sunday, settling for a no-decision, despite shutting out Jacksonville on two hits for six frames. Hanson ranks just outside the top 10 in strikeouts in the Southern League even though he started the season with Myrtle Beach.

Matthew Pouliot of Rotoworld came out with his mid-season top 150 prospects in the world of Minor League Baseball. What I like about what he does is that he gives analysis of many of the top players and predicts when they will break into the majors.

The Atlanta Braves had 6 players in the top 150, which is tied for 7th in the majors for the most players by a team on the list and it is also tied for 1st among National League teams.

Outfielder Jason Heyward led all Braves and was selected 9th overall. Pouliot predicts that he will make the majors in 2011. Other Braves include: Tommy Hanson, Gorkys Hernandez, Jordan Schafer, Brandon Jones and Freddie Freeman.

Here is the complete Top 150 Minor League Baseball prospects.