McFarland: Hartman moving up Braves’ prospects ranks

“You would be hard-pressed to find a more memorable opening weekend of professional baseball than the one Eric Hartman had.

Hitting cleanup for the Augusta GreenJackets as the Single-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves hosted the Columbia Fireflies, the 2024 20th round MLB draft pick was already 1-for-3 with a single, walk and run scored when he came up to bat in the seventh inning.

With a runner on and facing right-hander Ismail Michel, Hartman launched a rocket to right field that cleared the fence and added some insurance for the GreenJackets in taking an 11-7 lead.”

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Whicker: Beltran elected to Hall of Fame but difficult to separate him from Bonds

“You’re forgiven for being surprised when Carlos Beltran was elected to the Hall of Fame on Tuesday.

He piled up 2,725 hits during his 20 years, and hit 435 home runs, too. Seven times he scored 100 runs, and eight times he drove in 100. He won four Gold Gloves and was a prolific and high-percentage base-stealer.

But he led his league in nothing, except his 162-game perfect attendance year in 2002, and he was a Top-5 MVP vote-getter only twice. He was a compiler, sneaking up on those numbers, and that’s perfectly fine. A more complimentary term would be “grinder.” At the very least he was one of the better centre fielders of the last 30 years. Andruw Jones, a lesser one, also got elected. “

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