27-year old lefty reliever Jonny Venters is having a pretty easy time getting major league hitters out again so far this year. He has pitched in 8 games for the Braves out of the pen this year and he is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. Venters has whiffed 15 batters in his first 7 2/3 innings as he has been almost unhittable. Venters has pitched in 172 games (0 starts) in his first three years with the Braves and he is 12-6 with 6 saves, a 1.81 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. Venters is probably the best set-up man in the N.L., so if you don’t beat the Braves in the first seven innings….it’s usually game over.

29-year old lefty swinging CF Michael Bourn came to the Braves at last July’s trade deadline. He played in 53 games for the Braves last year and he was 63 of 227 (.278 avg, .674 OPS) with 30 runs scored, 1 homer, 18 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. The Braves expected more out of Bourn last year, and he’s trying to make up for that in 2012. Bourn has played in 17 games for the Braves so far this year and he is 23 of 69 (.333 avg, .823 OPS) with 12 runs scored, 0 homers, 4 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. The Braves hope that Bourn keeps up the good work at the top of the lineup to ignite the offense.

The Braves have sent 26-year old righty starting pitcher Jair Jurrjens to AAA-ball. He has pitched in 4 games (all starts) for the Braves so far this year and he is 0-2 with a 9.37 ERA and a 2.45 WHIP. Jurrjens has given up 30 hits (5 homers) and he has walked 10 batters in only 16 1/3 innings so far this year. Jurrjens deserved this demotion as he has been awful so far this year for the Braves. He will likely be replaced in the rotation by Tim Hudson this weekend. The Braves are not giving up on Jurrjens though, as they will likely call him back up when he gets back into a good groove in AAA. Jurrjens has pitched in 112 games (all starts) in his first five years with the Braves and he is 47-34 with a 3.48 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP.

22-year old lefty swinging 1B Freddie Freeman is red hot at the plate lately for the Braves. In his last four games, Freeman is 10 for 17 (.588 avg) with 7 runs scored, 5 doubles, 3 homers and 12 RBIs as he is locked in at the plate right now. He has now played in 13 games for the Braves overall this year and he is 16 for 54 (.296 avg, .902 OPS) with 12 runs scored, 3 homers and 13 RBIs. Freeman is a big key to the Braves’ offense, so they hope he continues to rake for a while.

Outfielder Ron Gant was a pretty solid player with the Atlanta Braves. He played in 858 games in 7 years with the Braves and he was 836 of 3,192 (.262 avg, .793 OPS) with 515 runs scored, 147 homers, 480 RBIs and 157 stolen bases. In 1991 and 1992, Gant was a 30/30 man, which shows just how good he was at his peak. He scored at least 100 runs 3 times, whacked 30+ homers 3 times, drove in over 100 runs twice and he stole at least 30 bases three times in his 7 years with the Braves. Gant was released in March of 1994 after breaking his leg in an ATV accident. Gant returned to the majors in 1995 with the Reds and he had a solid year. Gant went on to played in 1,832 games in his 16 years in the majors and he was 1,651 of 6,449 (.256 avg, .803 OPS) with 1,080 runs scored, 321 homers, 1,008 RBIs and 243 stolen bases. So Gant had a solid career, but his best years were with the Atlanta Braves.