Talking Chop

In Baseball America's top-20 prospects from the Arizona Fall League, the Braves had two representatives one representative:  Tommy Hanson and Tyler Flowers. Hanson is ranked second behind scout drool machine Matt Wieters. Here is part of what they had to say about our top-ranked pitching prospect:

Hanson tore through 2008, first ransacking the high Class A Carolina League and dominating at Double-A Mississippi. "He's on a mission," Mesa manager Rocket Wheeler said, and that was an understatement. Hanson showed nasty stuff, especially with his breaking pitches (both a curveball and slider). There's effort in the delivery, but there is no questioning the life of his fastball, still clocked up to 94 mph despite reaching 166 innings this year.

Solid praise. Every Braves fan is waiting anxiously for spring training when we will get to see if he can crack the major league starting rotation.

The other ranked Braves prospect, now former-Braves prospect, is of course catcher Tyler Flowers. But they were cautious with him, listing him 15th even though he put on such a big power display during the fall. The scouts have gotten burned in the past by over-hyping kids that come out of nowhere to turn Arizona into a boom-box, so Flowers may be a victim of some of that backlash.