Kristopher Allen Medlen (born October 7, 1985) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Atlanta Braves organization. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) most recently for the Kansas City Royals. He spent the earlier portion of his career with Atlanta.

Medlen graduated from Gahr High School in Cerritos, California in the year 2003. He attended El Camino College his freshman year and hit .296 with 18 RBI's as an infielder. As a pitcher, Medlen posted a 2.84 ERA with 17 K's in 19 innings of work, leading the team with 4 saves. Medlen redshirted the next year, before transferring to Santa Ana College. At Santa Ana, Medlen played as the starting shortstop and hit .332 with 10 HR's and 42 RBI. He also served as the team's closer, posting a 2.23 ERA with 16 saves, striking out 57 in 44.1 innings pitched.

Medlen was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 10th round of the 2006 Major League Baseball draft. The Braves saw promise for Medlen as a relief pitcher, and drafted him with the intention of using him in the bullpen.

Medlen played his first professional baseball game on June 22, 2006, for the Danville Braves of the Appalachian League. He appeared in 20 games for Danville, and pitched a total of 22 innings, being credited with 1 win, no losses, and 10 saves. In those 22 innings, Medlen allowed 14 hits and only 1 earned run. He struck out 36 batters, and allowed only 2 walks. His ERA was 0.41 and his WHIP was 0.727.

Medlen played for three of the Braves minor league teams during 2007, progressing from the Rome Braves (single A, South Atlantic League), to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (high A, Carolina League) and ending the season with the Mississippi Braves (AA, Southern League). His statistics for these three teams were as follows: For the Rome Braves, Medlen appeared in 17 games, logging 20.2 innings, with 33 strike-outs and 3 walks; he had an ERA of 0.87 and a WHIP of 0.774. For the Myrtle Beach Braves, Medlen appeared in 18 games, pitching 24 innings, with 28 strike-outs and 9 walks (2 of them intentional); he had an ERA of 1.12 and a WHIP of 1.230. For the Mississippi Braves, Medlen appeared in only 3 games, for a total of 2.1 innings. He had 2 strike-outs and 2 walks, allowing 4 hits and 3 earned runs (for an ERA of 11.57 and a WHIP of 2.571).

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