{"id":124141,"date":"2026-06-22T20:31:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T00:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=124141"},"modified":"2026-06-22T20:31:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T00:31:35","slug":"eric-hartman-braves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/06\/22\/eric-hartman-braves\/","title":{"rendered":"The Atlanta Braves Continue to Strike Gold in Their Farm System"},"content":{"rendered":"

If scouting and developing players were considered an art form, then the Atlanta Braves would be in the same tier as Picasso and da Vinci. In their latest stroke of genius, the Braves have taken a 20th-round pick in Eric Hartman<\/a> and watched him develop into a Top-5 prospect in the organization.<\/p>\n

Between an injury and general adjustments to pro baseball, Hartman did not blow anyone away in his first pro season. Still, since the start of 2026, he’s had scouting publications racing to adjust his projections and prospect rankings.<\/p>\n

The Atlanta Braves Continue to Strike Gold in Their Farm System<\/h2>\n

\"OF<\/p>\n

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Eric Hartman’s Rapid Rise<\/h3>\n

After signing for over slot value as a 20th round pick out of Alberta, Canada, Hartman played in 89 games in his first season with the Braves. While he would finish the ’25 campaign with a .240 average, along with five home runs and an OPS under .700, he was able to record 48 stolen bases. Ultimately, the left-handed-hitting outfielder was able to prove he was an elite base-runner with a bat that could one day develop.<\/p>\n

Well, it turns out that “one day” didn’t take long to arrive, as Hartman has been one of the top hitters in all of the minor leagues, as the season hits the back half of June. In 63 games, the Braves farmhand<\/a> is not only hitting .300 with a .940 OPS, but he is two home runs and two stolen bases away from a 20-30 season, which, if he keeps his current pace, could come before the calendar turns to July.<\/p>\n

Among all the hitters in the High-A, South Atlantic League with at least 200 at-bats, Hartman ranks sixth in HR\/FB ratio (22.8%), fourth in wOBA (.405), third in SLG (.577), and second in wRC+ (142). While Hartman is not a player who will get on base via free passes, that’s not due to a lack of discipline; it’s because he wants to attack pitches in the zone. According to TJstats, Hartman<\/a> is in the 98th percentile among all High-A hitters with at least 200 at-bats in z-swing percentage (78%).<\/p>\n

All of these stats and metrics have helped Hartman make a rapid ascension in the organization’s prospect rankings, but arguably the biggest factor in his rise has been finding his power stroke. Before the season, FanGraphs rated Hartman as the Braves’ 16th-ranked prospect, stating that his swing path and tendency to pull the ball could lead to a lot of rolled-over groundballs. Hartman is certainly a pull-happy hitter, but he’s proven that he knows how to launch the ball to that side of the field, ranking in the 98th percentile in pull-air percentage among High-A hitters with 200+ at-bats.<\/p>\n

The ETA For Eric Hartman<\/h3>\n

For as good as Hartman has been this season, most organizations would let him continue to develop in the minors for some time. The Atlanta Braves are not most organizations<\/a>, though, as they’ve never been shy about getting their young talent to the big leagues. Hartman was touted as the Braves’ third-ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline in their latest update, but they still have his ETA to reach the MLB set at 2029, which seems far too conservative a projection for an Atlanta prospect<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hartman is the same age Michael Harris Jr.<\/a> was when he spent the season in High-A, which is 20 years old. Much like Hartman, Harris flashed high-end speed and good contact skills during his season in High-A. Well, the following season, Harris Jr. started the year in Double-A, and after 43 games, he found himself in MLB at 21 years old.<\/p>\n

Outside of Harris Jr., Vaughn Grissom<\/a> is another good example of a young, highly ranked position-player prospect who the Braves called up at just 21. Atlanta does not play around with its prospects, and no prospect has been more successful than Hartman this season. If the left-handed hitting Canadian can continue to hit for power and steal bases, he could certainly wind up on the big league roster during the 2027 campaign, completing yet another work of art from the Atlanta scouting and player development departments.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credits: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If scouting and developing players were considered an art form, then the Atlanta Braves would be in the same tier as Picasso and da Vinci. In their latest stroke of genius, the Braves have taken a 20th-round pick in Eric Hartman and watched him develop into a Top-5 prospect in the organization. Between an injury […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5819,"featured_media":124212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1071],"tags":[29603,6252,6220],"class_list":["post-124141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-braves","category-mlb","tag-eric-hartman","tag-michael-harris-ii","tag-vaughn-grissom"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5819"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124141"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124214,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124141\/revisions\/124214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}