Eric Hartman Reflects on Rise to Being a Top Braves Prospect

Outfielder Eric Hartman has found himself in the middle of a dream season. His big year has elevated him to the status of a top prospect, not just in the Atlanta Braves system, but across major league baseball.

MLB.com recently ranked him the third-best prospect for the Braves, and they’ve ranked him No. 100 overall. Baseball America has also labeled him as a top-100 prospect. Heading into this season, he was unranked entirely.

For him, it’s a sign that the work he’s putting in is paying off.

“I think it’s cool to see what taking this day by day does, and really not worrying about the externals but worrying about the things I can control,” he said.

This arc has made for a nice emergence from where he was at the time of being selected by the Braves.

In 2024, Hartman was drafted in the 20th round out of Holy Trinity Academy in Okotoks, Alberta, which is about 45 minutes from Calgary. He was their last pick.

There were some decisions to make. The chance to go pro was there, but many players who are picked in a lower round may choose to wait and play in college first.

His older brother, Max, is an outfielder for Washington State, and he was able to help him talk it over, along with others, including coaches. There was the perspective of the alternative of putting pen to paper and signing on with the Braves.

In the end, there was a wide-open door to being a professional baseball player, and the college landscape is in a weird place. It was time to push for the majors.

Despite taking him as late as they did, there is a major indication that the Braves saw something in him. Hartman received a signing bonus of $337,500, which was the pick value for someone drafted in the sixth round that year.

If there was one thing he had going for him early compared to American high school players, he already played regularly with a wooden bat.

When he’d spend the summers playing in what we know as a wooden bat league, it was just business as usual. American ballplayers have to go through that transition since the use of a wooden bat is a rare occurrence.

It forced Hartman to figure certain things out earlier than he may have otherwise.

“I really couldn’t get away with as much as you do with a metal bat, and learning sometimes you got to sacrifice your thumbs for a hit, but learning to control the barrel and really put your A swing on it, rather than just getting away with a few cheap knocks with a metal bat.”

Hartman’s first season showed solid results with a .248 average, a .718 OPS, five home runs and 42 RBIs in 90 games. For good measure, he swiped 48 bases. It was sufficient to get him to the next level starting this season. But what followed, which has led to him becoming a top prospect, has been eye-popping.

He’s already more than tripled his home run total (18) and has more RBIs (47). None of the added power has come at a cost to his speed and baserunning. So far, he’s stolen 29 bases and is on pace for 38 bases.

Much of this success, from Hartman's perspective, has come from "cleaning up his misses."

He's been elevating the ball more. Even the pitches he's missed have been hit into the air. That's helped translate to more home runs when he nails a pitch.

“It’s been incredible to see what he’s done from last year to this year,” left-hander Cam Caminiti, his teammate and fellow 2024 draft pick and prospect, said. “It’s fun when you can watch a guy play like that, and he’s a great dude.”

What remains to be determined is how long he’ll stick around Rome. At some point, there will be a Columbus Clingstones uniform waiting for him to put on. At 20 years old, there is not much of a need to rush him. But that next step feels all but inevitable.

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