No Atlanta Braves prospect has been more surprising and helped their own stock more than Eric Hartman has in 2026. Hartman entered the season as an intriguing prospect after showing some tools in his pro debut, but no one thought that he would post a 20/30 season in just the first half of the year alone. However, it appears as though he has slowed down quite a bit and will need to make adjustments quickly if he is going to continue his rise through the prospect ranks.
Through the end of June (70 games), Hartman had posted a .294/.360/.557 line with 19 homers and 30 stolen bases. Again, those are video game numbers and exactly why Hartman has received so much love from top-100 prospect rankings as the 2026 season has progressed.
Sadly, the month of July has not been kind to Hartman. While not all of the news has been bad, Hartman has been struggling for long enough now that it is hard not to wonder if the good times from the first half are a thing of the past.
Eric Hartman has been dreadful in July, but a lot of it comes down to brutal luck
Every prospect reaches a point where they are struggling for one reason or another. Baseball is really hard, and hitting prospects, especially those that are drafted right out of high school like Hartman, often reach a point where opposing pitchers have an informed game plan against them, and adjustments have to be made. That explains part of what Hartman is dealing with right now, but a good bit of the problem has been good ol' fashioned crappy luck.
In 18 games (81 plate appearances) in the month of July, Hartman has only managed a .145/.346/.339 line with three homers and two stolen bases. Part of the problem has been that Hartman has been a special kind of unlucky on balls in play and that he has been pretty passive at the plate. The good news from that is that his walk rate for the month has been insane now that word is out that Hartman is incredibly dangerous to pitch to. The bad news is that when he has put the ball in play, he has only managed a .154 BABIP for the month. With his speed, it is nearly impossible for Hartman to maintain a BABIP that low for very long.
However, not all of Hartman's issues are just bad luck and perhaps an overly selective approach. Hartman is an extreme pull hitter and has been all season long. Opposing pitchers know that, so he has been seeing a steady diet of pitches on the outer edge or off the plate outside that are much harder to turn around and pull. Hartman is too talented for that strategy to completely neutralize him for long, but he needs to learn to be able to drive the ball the other way with some authority, because the weak rollers he has been hitting are tough to make work.
Again, this is just one month, and odds are good that we will look back at Hartman's slump here and laugh about it down the line. However, that the Braves haven't promoted Hartman to Double-A yet should tell us that they think he still has some things to work on at Rome before being given that challenge. Given his numbers lately, it is hard to argue with that conclusion.
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