About the last thing the injury-riddled Braves needed was a health issue with one of their young aces. They got it Thursday.
Tommy Hanson was scratched from his scheduled Friday start because of tendinitis in his pitching shoulder. Prospect Randall Delgado will arrive from Double-A Mississippi to make his major league debut with a series-opening against the Texas Rangers on Friday at Turner Field.
Hanson (8-4) had a career-high 14 strikeouts in seven innings Sunday at Houston, becoming the first pitcher in franchise history to record that many strikeouts in seven innings or fewer. He had a 1.42 ERA and .123 opponents’ average in three June starts, all wins.
The Braves and Hanson had not said anything about any shoulder pain after the game Sunday, or since. Early in Thursday’s game against the Mets, they announced that Hanson was scratched. The team will delay a decision on the disabled list until he’s re-evaluated in the next few days.
Delgado, 21, was the 35th-ranked prospect in Baseball America’s preseason top 100, and the second-rated Braves pitching prospect behind Julio Teheran. Delgado was 4-4 with a 3.54 ERA in 13 starts for Mississippi, with 64 strikeouts and 26 walks in 73 2/3 innings.
“He has very good stuff,” Braves general manager Frank Wren said after Thursday’s announcement.
Teheran, who already has made two major league starts this season, was not an option for Friday after pitching Tuesday for Triple-A Gwinnett. Delgado last pitched Friday against the Dodgers’ Double-A affiliate.
Parrish on offense
The Braves’ hitting woes have reached the point where manager Fredi Gonzalez is willing to try just about anything, including batting the pitcher eighth and Nate McLouth ninth when McLouth returns from the DL.
Gonzalez has had someone checking into the theory behind hitting a pitcher eighth, which Cardinals manager Tony La Russa has done occasionally. “I’ve never done it. I’ve never even toyed with it,” Gonzalez said. “I’m digging deep.”
If Gonzalez is desperate, imagine how the Braves’ hitting coach feels these days.
Larry Parrish was hired this winter with a lot of experience as a big-league player, coach and minor league manager, but not hitting-coach experience. In his first season in the position, Braves hitters began Thursday with a .239 batting average and .307 on-base percentage that were the third-lowest marks in the National League, ahead of Washington and San Diego.
“It weighs on you, there’s no doubt about it,” said Parrish, 57. “You go home and you think, what can you do? All I can do is work and be available to the guys. Hopefully we start hitting better.”
The Braves were hitting a league-worst .220 in June, despite completing a 7-3 road trip Monday in which they feasted for three games of a four-game series against Houston’s woeful pitching staff.
Parrish saw hopeful signs on the trip, including better at-bats from colossal-slumping Dan Uggla and some games where leadoff hitter Jordan Schafer provided a spark and pestered opponents with his speed.
“We had a couple of games [on the trip] where we swung the bat very well,” Parrish said. “I think Uggla swung the bat better. That’s huge. And Schafer got on base for us. That’s where it’s at. When those guys in the top of the order get on base, then you’ve got [Brian] McCann and Chipper [Jones] coming up there.
“I think Chipper — I don’t know if he knows it, but I’ve noticed this year — when guys get on base it seems like his concentration level is there. I just think his game goes up a notch when there are people out there [on the bases]. He’s been an RBI guy his whole career.”
Schafer was hitting just .211 with a .294 OBP in 19 games before Thursday, but his seven stolen bases were more than double the team’s next-highest total. He had four hits in his first four at-bats Thursday for his first four-hit game.
“The kid Schafer, it seems like every game he does good, we score runs,” Parrish said. “When he gets on, first of all he can create. He’s a guy who can steal a bag, we can score runs without really banging it.”
