Atlanta Braves' Michael Harris II Having Career-Best Month Down the Stretch

It couldn't have come at a better time. Atlanta Braves center fielder Michael Harris II is having the best month of his career to date.

Atlanta Braves center fielder Michael Harris II is having the best stretch of his young career. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images / Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

Atlanta Braves outfielder Michael Harris II looks to stay sharp at the plate as they head to Miami to play the Marlins. 

It's easy for his latest run to go unnoticed. The team is 9-8 in September, making it harder to look at the positives. It also didn't help that his return from the Injured List was mostly slow to start. After an electric first four games back, he batted just .192 with a .574 OPS in the last 13 games of August.

However, the calendar rolled over to September and he’s been a whole new ballplayer. 

In 17 games this month, Harris is batting .276 with an .888 OPS with seven home runs and 15 RBIs. For the advanced stat lovers, he has an OPS+ of 150. Those seven dingers are a career-high for home runs in a single month. 

Let alone is he back to form, his pop is at a career high right now. To put it into a greater perspective, this is a 162-game pace of 67 home runs and 143 RBIs. This is a guy who has never hit 20 home runs in a season.

His season OPS has jumped from .652 on Aug. 31 to .697 as of the publishing of this story. 

With nine games left, he could potentially get to 10 home runs before the end of the month. This would get him 18 home runs, matching his total from last year. 

But those are just his power numbers. To get a better idea of how well he’s seeing the ball, you need to look at some contact-specific stats too. In September, Harris has struck out in only 8.6% of plate appearances. Hitters in MLB these days are striking out well over 20% of the time. 

This is a rate that would make pure contact hitter Luis Arraez proud. Is it sustainable? Likely not, but cutting down on strikeouts is still a great sign for his development as a ballplayer. 

Harris has been a great ballplayer since day one. But he’s still a young ballplayer too at 23 years old. This could be when we are starting to see his breakout. 

Even if the Braves miss the postseason this year, we might be in for something special in 2025.