Gambling On Hanson Nets Big Rewards For Fantasy Baseball Owners

Fantasy baseball is all about timing. The timing an owner has to pull the trigger in the draft combined with the timing of picking up a highly touted prospect combine to make the difference between winning and losing.

This year, much of that timing revolved around Atlanta Braves super-phenom, Tommy Hanson. Many owners gambled on draft day and picked Hanson with one of their late picks, while others jumped on him early in the season.

Which ever route these owners took, their patience in keeping Hanson while the Braves flirted with Kris Medlen and Tom Glavine has now paid off. The rookie just completed a three game stretch in which he beat the Reds, Yankees, and Red Sox.

The fact that he beat these teams is just half of the story. The other part to the equation is how he won these games. Hanson has not given up an earned run in any of the three games, a streak that spans 17 1/3 innings.

Since coming up from the minor leagues in early June, Hanson has posted a 4-0 record and a 2.48 ERA. Those are similar numbers to what he produced in the minors where he was virtually unhittable. His strikeouts have been slow to come, but the way he has located his pitches indicate to the Braves coaching staff that the strikeouts will eventually come.

The Braves have not been playing their best baseball of late, and have needed Hanson to be as good as he has been. He just completed a stretch where he won on Tuesday, had the Braves lose their next few games, and then he ended the string of losses with a win on Sunday.

Fantasy baseball is an inexact science, but all indications were that Hanson was going to be a major contributor to the Braves this year. For owners who withstood the verbal beatings from other owners regarding keeping Hanson stashed, their reward has only started to be realized.

June 29, 2009
Posted By Vincent Tapoglia III
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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