The Atlanta Braves were a frustratingly mediocre 22-25 after a loss at home against the Marlins on May 28. Most every Atlanta baseball fan already knows why that date is significant.
For the rest of you: That was the day Michael Harris II made his big-league debut.
“Michael Harris, when he came up here, he just changed this whole team,” said Brian Jordan, a 15-year MLB veteran who broadcasts Braves baseball games now. “He was one of the best center fielders in the game right away, and you know how important that is for pitchers, to have a good defensive center fielder.”
FOSTER: Michael Harris II exudes no emotions but plenty of confidence
Yes, the Braves lost that first game of the Michael Harris Era. But likely NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara was on the mound, and Harris did go 1-for-3 off Miami’s ace with Atlanta’s only run scored of the game. We should have known good things were ahead. Harris, it turns out, was the missing something, the spark that the reigning World Series champions needed to find their best selves as a baseball team.
And if you’re looking for reasons the Braves might repeat, Harris is way up on that list. In addition to that stellar defense in center field, he’s batting .305 with 19 homers, 20 stolen bases and a 5.2 bWAR that ranks 11th among all NL position players, despite playing in just 109 games. Harris is the only player in the top 25 with fewer than 128 games in 2022.
Since that loss to the Marlins in Harris’ debut, the Braves have a 75-34 record. That’s tied for the best in the bigs — with the Dodgers, who have been historically good this year — and it’s not a small sample size. That’s four months of a six-month season. And it’s not a coincidence it all started when Harris arrived.
“He came up with a slow pulse, which is so surprising,” Jordan said. “I’m sitting in the booth waiting for people to try and figure him out, and every time I think they might have, he makes adjustments. That’s the most impressive thing I’ve seen about him, he’s able to make adjustments. He’s open to listening and learning, which is important.”
The adjustments have been real. Check out his month-by-month numbers:
June: 105 PA, .347 avg, .946 OPS, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 4 SB
July: 97 PA, .222 avg, .701 OPS, 5 HR, 13 RBI, 7 SB
August: 105 PA, .337 avg, .990 OPS, 4 HR, 15 RBI, 5 SB
September: 96 PA, .327 avg, .928 OPS, 6 HR, 19 RBI, 4 SB
Did we mention Harris is just 21 years old, and he’d only played 43 games above High-A — all at Double-A — when the Braves called up up to the majors? It’s rather incredible, honestly.
Here’s a full list of players in the big leagues with at least 19 homers, 19 stolen bases and an OPS+ of 140 or better.
Julio Rodriguez: 27 HR, 25 SB, 144 OPS+
Michael Harris: 19 HR, 20 SB, 140 OPS+
That’s it. Just those two.
And while Harris was thriving in the majors, he was helping out one of his teammates at Double-A Mississippi with chats about life in the bigs.
“At least once a week,” Vaughn Grissom said. “He’s busy, you know, but every time I was bored or had time we would call Mike and see what’s up. He always answers. He’d always just say, ‘It’s the same game.’”
The same game. Grissom was batting .324 in 96 minor-league games — 74 in High-A and 22 in Double-A — when was called up in early August, and thanks to Harris’ reassuring words, he was undaunted. So much so that he actually homered in Fenway Park in his debut game in the bigs.
“He freaking hits one into the street, over the Green Monster,” Jordan said. “I was just like, wow, another 21-year-old coming up with a slow pulse, a high IQ, aggressive and not afraid to make a mistake. You’ve got to love ballplayers like that.”
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Grissom hit .420 in his first 14 games with Atlanta, with three homers and a pair of stolen bases, locking onto the job as the starting second baseman with Ozzie Albies out.
I asked longtime baseball man Ron Washington, the club’s third-base coach, what stood out to him about Harris and Grissom.
“What’s really the issue is, they’re not afraid,” Washington said. “They actually trust their abilities. I haven’t seen either one of them get outside of what they’re capable of doing. I think that’s what destroys the young kids when they come up here. Now, they’re trying to prove to people what they can do, but those two kids just do what they can do.”
Grissom has cooled down a bit, but he’s still batting .290 on the season.
“You don’t know when you draft guys if they’re going to be like that,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “You get lucky. You draft guys with good skills and everything, and to handle all this the way they have it’s a credit to the player, pretty much.”
And when the games get really important — like the three-game series with the Mets that starts Friday night and will determine the NL East champions, or in postseason games in October — you want talented players who handle it the way they have, who have the “slow pulse” as Jordan said.
“These two kids,” Washington said with a smile, “they just play like they’re oblivious to where they are, and that’s why they perform like they have.”
And that’s why Atlanta fans have reason to be excited for what might be ahead.