McFarland: Hartman moving up Braves’ prospects ranks
Okotoks Dawgs grad Eric Hartman (St. Albert, Alta.) had 44 stolen bases in 83 games for the Atlanta Braves’ class-A Augusta GreenJackets in his first professional season in 2025. Photo: Augusta GreenJackets
*This article was originally published on Alberta Dugout Stories on January 28, 2026. You can read it here.
January 29, 2026
By Joe McFarland
Alberta Dugout Stories
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.
Soaking in the moment, the Dawgs Academy alum remembers rounding the bases vividly.
“Coming around second toward third, I’m pointing to the crowd as I found my parents right away,” Hartman told Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast.
“It was cool to see them smiling and the look on their faces.”
After putting the finishing touches on a 12-7 victory, the Hartmans went out for supper with their son, who also hit a walk-off home run two days later to start a season filled with plenty of ups and downs.
GIVING HIMSELF SOME CREDIT
Coming into his first professional campaign, Hartman knew there would be a learning curve.
It’s never easy making the jump to minor league baseball straight out of high school, but the St. Albert native and Canada Summer Games record holder says it wasn’t as crazy as he thought it would be.
It didn’t hurt that he got an early taste of high-level college ball as an affiliate player for the Okotoks Dawgs during their championship run in 2023, hitting .375 with a homer and five runs batted in during the final series against Medicine Hat.
“Playing with good competition in Okotoks and especially the Junior National Team definitely prepared me for the higher level of pitching,” Hartman said.
“I think, going into it, you have to remember that you’re there for a reason, you were drafted for a reason, so I soon learned that and gave myself a little credit.”
However, nothing can prepare a player for the grind of a minor league season where you’re playing almost every day from April until at least the end of August.
Hartman says he weathered the storm well and learned quickly that he can’t lament any daily or weekend performance – good or bad – for too long.
RIDING THE ROLLERCOASTER
That lesson hit Hartman square in the face within the first week of the season.
After his two-homer, four-RBI performance against Columbia earned him Canadian Baseball Network Minor League Player of the Week, the 18-year-old went cold at the plate, going hitless in 10 plate appearances.
He finished April with a .231 batting average with the two round trippers, 11 RBIs, and maybe most impressively, 10 stolen bases.
Hartman picked up another 10 swipes in May before suffering a leg injury running out a ground ball, landing him on the injured list for the better part of a month.
“It gave me lots of time to be really grateful for playing,” said the 2025 MLB Spring Breakout participant.
“Sometimes, when you’re in it, it’s like, ‘Wow, I’m playing a lot and I’m really tired.’ You can almost get sick of it and you kind of lose the fact that baseball is a fun game.
“I think being down there without all my buddies and being a little alone gave me lots of time just to think about how I miss playing and getting excited to come back.”
EFFICIENT THIEVERY
After a brief six-game stop with the Braves’ team in the Florida Complex League, Hartman returned to the GreenJackets for his first game on July 2.
Again against the Fireflies, he flew out in his first at-bat before doubling in the fourth inning and stole third base, finishing the day 1-for-3 in a 3-0 loss.
Hartman doubled again the next night, then hit his third homer of the season as part of a six-game hitting streak.
He remained an everyday outfielder for the team through the season, finishing up with a .240 batting average, five home runs, 42 RBI and an eye-popping 48 stolen bases in just 89 games, while only being caught five times all year.
“I thought it was pretty cool with how efficient I was and also my stealing percentage,” Hartman said. “I definitely wondered if I was healthy all season, how much I could have pushed that number up. But I’m totally happy with that number and how it went.”
Photo: Braves Farm/Instagram
PLAYING THROUGH PAIN
While Hartman did have hits in three of his last four games, he knew he was fighting through something.
He thought his wrists were just tired, so he kept getting them wrapped tighter and tighter, until his trainer said it might be time to get them checked out.
A CT scan uncovered a fractured hamate bone, and Hartman opted for surgery instead of waiting for it to heal naturally.
His first phone call was actually to his agent, Alex Hinz, to tell him about the injury.
“He’s like, ‘Let me guess, it’s the hamate in your hand,’” the 6-foot-1, 185-pound prospect laughed. “I said, ‘Yeah, how did you know?’ He told me he was watching the last couple of games and noticed my strikeout rate went up.”
The surgeon opened up the hand and said it was more fractured than the scan showed, and the procedure went well enough that Hartman is already feeling 100% again.
SIMPLE APPROACH TO SUCCESS
With the first pro season complete and surgery in the rearview mirror, Hartman was back at it during the offseason as he looks to keep moving up the Braves’ depth charts.
Ranked as their 24th best prospect heading into 2026, he had two primary focuses for his training: arm strength and shoulder care to make himself a better outfielder, and cleaning up a few things with his swing to start using more of the field.
Photo: Okotoks Dawgs Academy, Instagram
Hartman says it’s not about re-inventing the player he’s become, as much as it is refining the unfinished product he is still a teenager.
“You can keep making the small adjustments as that’s what you’re supposed to do,” said the now-19-year-old.
“You’re supposed to get better, but you have to remember who you are and how you got yourself there.”
With Spring Training just a couple of weeks away, it’s not quite clear if he will stay with Augusta or if the Braves plan to move him to the High-A Rome Emporers, or even higher.
His approach will remain the same: do all he can to prepare himself to play a full season and improve on his solid debut.
“I want to play a full season, probably try to get up there with the steals again, get my strikeout rate low and hit the ball hard,” Hartman said.
It’s a simple approach, but one that he hopes pays dividends when Spring Training games start Feb. 20.