Believe it or not, the Atlanta Braves are already over a third of the way through the 2026 MLB season. After winning on Tuesday, Atlanta improved to 41-20, which was the best record in baseball by two full games. The Braves have defied expectations, building a massive lead in the NL East, a division most predicted would be a close three-team race.
Of course, the team's surprising start would not be possible without a few players vastly exceeding expectations. It also wouldn't be an MLB season without a few Braves who have been incredibly underwhelming.
3 Braves that have greatly exceeded expectations
Michael Harris II
Michael Harris II has hit the ball so well in 2026 it might be hard to remember that plenty of experts and fans entered the year rather bearish on the young center fielder. Money Mike's 2025 started off disastrously. Through the first half of the season, there was only one qualified hitter with a lower wRC+ than Harris. He then came out of the break on a heater, winning the NL Player of the Week at the end of July.
Harris continued to hit well in August, but then in September, his production dipped to his first half levels. Simply put, Braves fans had no idea what kind of player Michael Harris II would be in 2026, and most believed if he wasn't able to get his chase under control, he would continue to struggle.
Despite not fixing his chase issues, Money Mike came out of the gate this season slugging, and hasn't looked back. Even with a quad issue that robbed him of over a week of starts in center field, Harris hasn't slowed down. His .306/.339/.526 slash line closely mirrors his 2022, where he won NL Rookie of the Year.
He's mashed 13 homers going into Wednesday, which would put him well on pace to smash his previous career-high of 20, that he set last year. It's safe to safe without Harris, the Braves would not have the start that they have.
Bryce Elder
Coming into the season, Elder was not even a lock for the Opening Day roster, and with him being out of options, it would've required the Braves to DFA the former All-Star. Of course, since his 2023 All-Star appearance, Elder hadn't necessarily performed like someone deserving of a roster spot.
From the start of the second half in 2023 through the end of the 2025 season, Elder had the worst ERA in baseball among pitchers with at least 200 innings with a 5.47 ERA. Elder's roster status was in such a flux some predicted he was going to be a bullpen piece.
Thanks to injuries to Hurston Waldrep and Spencer Schwellenbach, however, Elder did make the team out of spring training, and since then, he has been the Braves second-most dependable starter behind Chris Sale. Even after a rough start in Boston, and his most recent start against the Blue Jays, where he allowed 3 runs, Elder has a 2.63 ERA and a very respectable 3.33 FIP.
Although Elder likely won't get a shot at his second All-Star appearance due to a stacked NL pitching lineup, his consistency as a Braves starter, and his ability to go at least six innings every five days has been huge for the Braves.
Dominic Smith
It's safe to say that expectations for Dominic Smith were about as low as possible. When he first signed, fans thought he was joining the club as a possible emergency first baseman option just in case something happened to MLB's current Iron Man, Matt Olson.
Instead, Smith was thrust into semi-regular starts thanks to Jurickson Profar's second PED suspension. Although fans were still very pessimistic about what Smith, who been a fairly mediocre player over the previous five seasons.
Thankfully, it did not take long for Smith, to win over fans, as he provided a big Dominic Smith moment by launching walk-off grand slam in his first game with the team. Since then, all he's done is hit. Even with some long gaps between starts thanks to some injuries to Michael Harris II and Ronald Acuña Jr, or simply being unlucky due to the Braves facing a series of lefties, Smith hasn't slowed down.
For the season, Smith has a 137 OPS+ in 48 games. Although his March and April were much better than his May, Smith still slashed .310/.339/.431 last month.
2 Braves players who have fallen far short of expectations
Austin Riley
The past two seasons for Austin Riley had fallen short of the lofty expectations he set for himself during his excellent stretch from 2021 to 2023, but he still managed to have an above-average OPS+ in both 2024 and 2025, despite both seasons being cut short due to injury.
Even with two down seasons, the expectation was that Riley could get back to being a 130 OPS+ third baseman, or at least close to it. Instead, over 60 games through the season, Braves fans are wondering if Riley can even reach league-average before things are said and done.
Riley's .588 OPS in the first month of the season was followed by a .722 OPS in May, a significant improvement, but still far from the player Riley was expected to be. Even worse, his second half of May was much worse than the first, where he had a .624 OPS from May 16 to May 31.
There's still time for Riley to salvage his season, but it's clear from the lineup construction, with the Braves third baseman being penciled in sixth or seventh, that they aren't necessarily expecting to rely on him.
Ha-Seong Kim
Kim has easily been the biggest disappointment in a Braves season that has not seen a whole lot of disappointments. After signing a one-year, $20 million contract this offseason, Kim's season didn't even begin until the middle of May thanks to a freak injury when he slipped on ice.
Since coming back, Kim has done very little to prove he deserves to be the starting shortstop. Coming into Wednesday's game, he's slashed .089/.180/.089 (-19 OPS +) and also played underwhelming defense, especially for a former Gold Glove winner.
Kim's play was so bad he was given three full games off to try and get back on track, and then did not start during the Braves series opener against the Blue Jays. With Jorge Mateo and Mauricio Dubón playing well, it will be tough to justify playing Kim going forward unless he rights the ship soon.
Add us as a preferred source on Google