AP Wire | 08/18/2003 | Franco hurt in freak weight room accident
As noted in the comments. I’m not sure why the Braves would call up Mike Hessman, who is basically Wes Helms 2.0. This story says he’s hitting .250 with 16 homers in Richmond, which is true. It neglects to mention his .295 on-base average. He’s theoretically defensively flexible, but isn’t really an outfielder and won’t play third base with DeRosa already short PAs, so he’s going to be limited to platooning with Fick. I’m guessing that’s why he’s up instead of an outfielder like Donzell McDonald (Damon Hollins has better numbers, but I think he’s hurt) or another infielder like Jesse Garcia, who isn’t much but at least has a .329 OBA.
By my count, eight current Braves (M. Franco, DeRosa, Vinny, Giles, Hessman, Chipper, Sheffield, Blanco) have played third base at some time. Five were primarily third basemen for at least one season.
At least Hessman is better than Travis Wilson. But so is anything else.