The year is 2012. The Atlanta Braves are marching toward the postseason in Chipper Jones‘ final campaign of a truly legendary career. In Chipper’s final season, a reliever turned starter named Kris Medlen became the story. He stole the headlines as the Braves clinched a Wild Card spot with 94 wins.

Check out the audio version of our interview with Kris Medlen below. The YouTube video is also embedded later in the article.

Medlen began the season as a solution in the bullpen to alleviate pressure on the big three. Craig Kimbrel, Jonny Venters, and Eric O’Flaherty comprised an elite high-leverage grouping. Medlen’s services would eventually be needed in the starting rotation after Brandon Beachy suffered an elbow injury and Jair Jurrjens looked nothing like the All-Star player he was the year before.

This is where the legend of Kris Medlen was born. He made his first start since 2010 on July 31st, 2012. Medlen made 12 starts to close out the season and the Braves won each and every one of them. He was an even better starting pitcher than he was reliever in 2012. That is saying a lot because he had a 2.48 ERA before making his first start. As a starter, he finished with a 0.97 ERA over 83.2 innings. If Kris Medlen started, the Braves won.

Atlanta Braves: The Stats behind Kris Medlen’s 2012

Here is how Kris Medlen compared to the rest of the league’s best pitchers after became a starter on July 31st, 2012 through the end of the season.

Name	ERA	W	L	K/9	BB/9	HR/9
Kris Medlen	0.97	9	0	9.04	1.08	0.54
Clayton Kershaw	1.72	6	3	9.88	2.76	0.57
James Shields	1.99	7	3	8.87	1.39	0.80
Max Scherzer	2.08	6	1	11.08	2.08	0.55
Cliff Lee	2.14	5	3	9.23	0.49	1.07

Medlen won the NL Pitcher of the Month Award in August and September. He threw a complete-game shutout on August 16 against the San Diego Padres, which accounted for nine innings of a 34.2 inning scoreless streak for Medlen. The streak was good for second-best in franchise history behind only Greg Maddux‘s 39.1 inning streak.

Interview with former Atlanta Braves’ ace Kris Medlen

Kris Medlen starts final Braves home game of Chipper Jones’ career

Medlen ensured Chipper Jones would get one more victory against the Mets in Jones’ final regular season home game on September 30th. Medlen went six inning allowing just one unearned run in the victory.

The Braves clinched a Wild Card spot that season, giving fans hopes of a World Series run in Jones’ final year. While we know that would be cut short in the one-game Wild Card against the Cardinals… and that damned infield fly that landed well into left field.

It was a truly unfortunate way to end a magical run. It was a sad way to end Chipper Jones’ career. However, Kris Medlen and the 2012 Braves gave us a lot to root for that season. I’ve always been grateful as a Braves fan to have a team that gives us a reason to root.

Kris Medlen’s run as a starting pitcher in the second half is one of the greatest stretches of starting pitching we will ever see. He continued his success through the 2013 season. We can only wonder what might have been had he not blew his elbow out a second time in the spring of 2014.