Hampton Could See Action on Friday

After Mike Hampton's last bullpen session, he didn't sound too optimistic about seeing any action soon, but after Saturday's that all changed. Hampton was scheduled to throw today in a bullpen session and if that went well then we could see Hampton starting Friday against the Pirates. He says it would only be for one inning, but it would make all of us Braves fans much more confident that both he and Kyle Davies, who had groin surgery in '06 are able to throw in a real game situation. The plan is still to have him ready to throw five innings by opening day, so they will take it easy on his elbow.

Hampton mentioned that he could be just as effective throwing 86 mph as he was before the injury, so we will definitely not see the Hampton we are used to. He will rely a lot more on location and off-speed pitches. That part is a little scary. Chuck James makes his high-80's fastball work with a great change, but Hampton doesn't really possess an off-speed pitch at that caliber. I would assume that he is working on locating his change better during spring training, so maybe he comes back near his pre-injury form, but I would doubt it. My projection for Hampton is 11-9 with a 4.45 ERA in 26 starts with 150 IP. He would make himself a bit above average for a fourth starter so you can't complain and the depth of the pen is good enough to make up for the lack of innings.