There was a lot of excitement around the Braves’ minor league system this year. We saw players take major steps forward, prospects move quickly through multiple levels, and a few prospects go from unknown to household names.
After looking back through this season, three prospects stood out to me, each for their own reason.
Eric Hartman–Position Player Of The Year
Eric Hartman entered the season as an intriguing prospect most Braves fans who followed the farm teams knew about, but he wasn’t necessarily known leaguewide yet. He was a prospect with great tools and athleticism who was on the back end of many people’s Braves top-30 lists and finished the season as a top-three prospect in the organization and a MiLB Top 100 prospect.
He hit .249 with 26 home runs, 74 RBI, 56 stolen bases, and an .806 OPS across 489 at-bats. He also scored 95 runs while splitting the season between Rome and Columbus.
Twenty-six home runs and 56 stolen bases. That combination of power and speed gave him a chance to affect games in more ways than one.
His production in Single-A Rome earned him a promotion to Double-A Columbus shortly after the All-Star break. Even though his batting average and overall numbers weren’t as impressive as his numbers in Rome, he still found ways to get on base, create pressure on the defense with his baserunning ability, steal bases, and score runs. Doing all of this at 20 years old in his first full professional baseball season is impressive.
Davis Polo–Pitcher Of The Year
Davis Polo’s season began in Augusta, and when it ended, he was in Gwinnett.
He finished the year with a 10-6 record, a 3.00 ERA, a 1.08 WHIP, and 140 strikeouts over 129 innings pitched. He made 25 appearances, 23 of which were starts.
Those totals would have been impressive at just one level; he did it at four. That was the way his season went. Every time the Braves gave him another challenge, he was ready for it. After spending the bulk of the season in Augusta, he made two starts in Rome before being sent to Columbus. Just 11 days after that, he was in Gwinnett.
The Braves wanted to see him perform at multiple levels, and he made sure to take advantage of those opportunities every single time he was given one.
The workload, his ability to adjust to each level, and his amazing stuff that kept opponents off balance and confused all season long are the exact reasons why he is the Pitcher of the Year.
Daniel Brooks–Breakout Prospect Of The Year
DB may have been one of the least-talked-about prospects when the season began. By the end of the year, he had every fan waiting for his next start.
Brooks finished his first full professional season with a 4-1 record, a 1.81 ERA, a 0.87 WHIP, and 73 strikeouts through 49.2 innings. He appeared in 25 games and made four starts.
The numbers were impressive, but the role change from reliever to starter made them even more so. He worked mainly out of the bullpen in Augusta. During his time there, he had a 0.65 ERA and 46 strikeouts through 27.2 innings pitched. He made his first start there in his final appearance for Augusta before getting promoted to Rome, where all three of his appearances were starts. During that time, he had 10.1 scoreless innings and struck out 16 batters.
His path is what this award is supposed to represent. He went from being a UDFA in July 2025 to forcing his way onto many Braves top-30 lists. He’s just getting started, so keep an eye out for what he’s going to do next season.
Three Awards For Different Reasons
Hartman turned himself from a late-round draft pick into one of the most productive offensive prospects we have in the organization. Polo went through four levels and excelled at each and every one of them. DB went from being an undrafted free agent working out of the bullpen to a legitimate pitcher in the rotation in the span of one season.
What makes these seasons so much fun to evaluate is how much changed for each player. They entered the 2026 season with different expectations and finished by exceeding every single one of them.
Add comment
Comments