At this point, most Atlanta Braves fans who pay attention to the minor leagues at all have heard about outfield prospect Eric Hartman. A 20th-round pick out of the Canadian high school ranks, Hartman was known for his speed and athleticism. However, few expected him to grow into much in the way of power, and he was considered a bit of a lottery ticket. Well, sometimes you win if you play the lottery, and it sure looks like Atlanta won when it comes to Hartman.
In short, Hartman is putting up video game numbers down in the minor leagues right now. After a somewhat underwhelming .699 OPS in 2025 with low-A Augusta, Hartman looks like a completely different player in 2026 and in the best possible way. In fact, if he can keep this up, Hartman has a real chance to put together one of the absolute best minor league seasons from a prospect in Braves history.
Eric Hartman, you are cleared for takeoff. 🛫 pic.twitter.com/1gdR4dfOYe
— Rome Emperors (@GoEmperors) June 20, 2026
It's early, but Eric Hartman is putting up numbers in the minors that we haven't seen from a Braves prospect (almost)
First, we need to understand Hartman's competition for the best minor league season in Braves history. There are a lot of contenders, but a few that stick out are Andruw Jones (1996), Rafael Furcal (1999), Jason Heyward (2009), Freddie Freeman (2010), and Ronald Acuña Jr. (2017). There have obviously been some great minor league seasons from Braves pitching prospects as well, but it is easier to compare Hartman to other hitters for now, so stick with us.
Let's take a look at what the numbers tell us about each of these seasons and how well Hartman stacks up.
Games | Average | OBP | Slugging | Home Runs | Steals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Eric Hartman (2026)* | 62 | .300 | .362 | .580 | 18 | 26 |
Andruw Jones (1996) | 116 | .339 | .421 | .652 | 34 | 30 |
Rafael Furcal (1999) | 126 | .322 | .392 | .389 | 1 | 96 |
Jason Heyward (2009) | 99 | .323 | .408 | .555 | 17 | 10 |
Freddie Freeman (2010) | 124 | .319 | .378 | .521 | 18 | 6 |
Ronald Acuña Jr. (2017) | 139 | .325 | .374 | .522 | 21 | 44 |
So, the elephant in the room here is that Andruw's 1996 season is going to be incredibly hard to match. At the moment, Hartman should exceed Jones' steals mark and be in the same neighborhood when it comes to homers, but that .421 OBP and .339 batting average will be tough.
However, Hartman's stats compare very favorably to the rest of the top prospect seasons the Braves have ever seen from a hitter. We have already analyzed the parallels between him and Acuña Jr., and Hartman looks like he will gap most of these guys when it comes to counting stats, with the notable exception of Furcal's 96 steals in 1999, which does appear firmly out of reach. Where Hartman lags behind in rate stats like average and OBP, he makes up for it in slugging and his ability to create chaos on the basepaths.
There is a very important caveat here. Every one of these seasons, other than Freeman's 2010 season, which came at Triple-A Gwinnett, had the players get promoted at least once during the season. In some cases, there were multiple promotions. As great as Hartman has been, he has not been challenged like many of these guys were just yet. However, with little left to prove at high-A right now, don't be surprised if Hartman gets his chance to prove his mettle against Double-A very soon.
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