Michael Harris II was such a surprise when he was called up by the Atlanta Braves in 2022. He quickly showed why the front office was excited to draft him in 2019. Harris was making some incredible defensive plays and brought a surprising amount of pop at the plate. Overall, Harris produced a 5.1 bWAR over 114 games that season, with a .297/.339/.514 slash line.
Atlanta's young centerfielder ended up winning NL Rookie of the Year after he slugged 27 doubles, 19 homers, drove in 64 runs, stole 20 bases, and had an impressive 137 wRC+. Neither he nor the Braves couldn't have dreamed of a much better debut than that.
To reward his efforts, Harris was awarded an eight-year, $72 million contract just a few months into this campaign. It followed a trend that the Braves have pioneered across the league, which is to reward young talent early.
It's was a risk for Atlanta, but with the cost of free agent contracts these days, it's worth taking. Harris continued to hit well in 2023, but his production took a nose-dive during the 2024 and 2025 seasons. His wRC+ also decreased each season (137 in 2022, 116 in 2023, 99 in 2024, and 83 in 2025). However, his defense remained elite each season. He makes some of the most jaw-dropping catches fans could imagine. That has helped make the lack of offensive production easier to swallow.
Michael Harris II needs to figure out how to be consistent at the plate or the Braves may be forced to take drastic actions
The main problem is that if this trend continues, the Braves cannot afford to wait to act. They may need to have a contingency plan in place if these issues persist. The defense is incredible, but it's hard to win games without production from the lineup. They have some flexibility with guys like Mauricio Dubon and Mike Yastrzemski, who have experience in the outfield if this happens. That will be very important.
Despite Harris' decline at the plate, he has the second-highest WAR (14) by any Braves player acquired or drafted in the Alex Anthopoulos era. That's reason enough to think he can turn things around.
Hitting coach Tim Hyers has been working to help Harris fix his issues with chasing pitches. Something was clearly working as Money Mike improved his batting average from .210 in the first half to .299 in the second half. He also increased his OPS from .551 to .845 in that time.
Fans have been hoping every year that Harris will be able to put everything together for an MVP-worthy season. He has all the talent, work ethic, and potential to make that happen. Hopefully, the fixes in the second half follow him into 2026.