Medlen started his career in 2009 with the Braves. He came up and was starting originally before the Braves moved him the the bullpen. In 2010, he split time as a starter and reliever, then missed almost all of 2011 after elbow surgery.
In 2012 Medlen had his best major league season yet, in fact, it was one of the best seasons by a Braves pitcher in a long time. Medlen had only two down parts to his season. One, he suffered his only loss of the year in relief against the Washington Nationals on May 26th, giving up two runs on three hits and pitching only one inning. Two, he lost the wild card game against the St. Louis Cardinals. After having such a great year, the Braves and Medlen thought they could win, but he wasn't quite good enough to help Atlanta advance.
Medlen's biggest highlight of the year was when he set a new major league record for the most consecutive starts in which the Braves have won. In the past 23 games he has started, during the regular season, the Braves have won. Throughout this performance, he drew comparison to former Braves' legend Greg Maddux.
As a starter this year Medlen went 9-0. He pitched two complete games too. One came on August 16th against the San Diego Padres as he gave up only five hits and struck out six men. In his other complete game on September 3rd against the Colorado Rockies, he gave up an unearned run on five hits and struck out twelve batters. Overall on the year, Medlen had a 10-1 record with a 1.57 ERA and 120 strikeouts.
Medlen will be one of the Braves top pitchers going into next season. He would most likely be the opening day starter right now. The youngster will be counted on to anchor a young staff that will include Mike Minor and Brandon Beachy (halfway through 2013) and possibly another young arm, such as Randall Delgado or Julio Teheran. It will be fun for Braves fans to see just how many more wins Medlen can get as he and the Braves try to march on to another playoff appearance.
Kris Medlen set a major league record by helping the Braves win the past 23 games he has started for them.
Photo Courtesy of images.yahoo.com
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