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Once the top Atlanta Braves minor-league prospect and the heir apparent to Tom Glavine in the Braves’ rotation when he was called up in 2009, Tommy Hanson passed away in an Atlanta hospital in the early hours of Tuesday, November 10. He was just 29 years old.
Zach Klein, sports director at WSB-TV in Atlanta, reported on Monday night that Hanson was in a coma and suffering from “catastrophic organ failure”:
The tragic news was confirmed shortly after midnight:
Drafted in the 22nd round of the 2005 MLB draft by the Braves, Hanson rose steadily through the minor league ranks from Class A ball in Danville to the Braves’ AAA affiliate in Gwinnett in 2009. At Gwinnett, Hanson was lauded as the number one prospect in all of the minors by some baseball publications.
Called up in June of 2009 to the Braves after Glavine was released, Hanson recorded his first Major League win on June 12th that year against the Baltimore Orioles. In 21 starts that season, he recorded an ERA of 2.89 with 116 strikeouts and an 11-4 record, finishing third in the National League Rookie of the Year race.
A 200-inning year followed in 2010, and Hanson’s career highlight came in June 2011, when he had a 14-strikeout outing against the Houston Astros.
In spite of a strong first half of 2011, Hanson was somehow denied an All-Star nod despite ranking in the top 5 in all the major pitching categories at that point of the season.
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After a trade saw him move to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim following the 2012 season, a subpar 2013 season was the end of Hanson’s Major League career, and after a spring training contract in 2014 with the Texas Rangers, he moved on to minor league stints with affiliates of the Chicago White Sox and San Francisco Giants.
In his final season in the minors in 2015, Hanson had a combined record of 4-6 with an ERA of 4.76 in 15 starts at two teams.
The cause of death has yet to be announced. TheAOSN will follow up this story with more details as they emerge.