While the re-emergence of Ronald Acuña Jr. has been the biggest storyline over the last week with the Atlanta Braves, one simply cannot ignore what Michael Harris II has been doing pretty much all season long. There doesn't seem to be any pitch in any location that Harris can't barrel, and if you look at most of the Braves' wins this season, Harris played at least a small role and often much more. If Harris were just walking more, he would be a viable NL MVP candidate this year. If this weekend is any indication, that may be exactly what is happening.
No one is asking Harris to have the patience of a Buddhist monk at the plate. His aggression at the plate is what allows Harris to punish baseballs, but you will struggle to find a Braves fan who hasn't been at least somewhat frustrated by Harris' near bottom-of-the-scale walk rates over the course of his career.
However, something shifted this past weekend against the Reds. Not only did Harris play a huge role on offense for the Braves in the usual ways, but he also showed some newfound patience as well.
Michael Harris has 10 BBs this season.
— Min Sub (Mitchell) (@MinSub4) May 31, 2026
Last year he had 16.
Can he get to 16 by the All-Star break? https://t.co/uemGWHibtA
If Michael Harris II can build on his weekend patience, the Braves could have another MVP candidate on their hands
Now, this IS just one series, and we are a long way from Harris being an OBP monster. Harris hasn't once posted a 5% walk rate in his career, and that is a pretty low bar to clear to begin with. However, it is still noteworthy that Harris seemed willing to work some counts against a Reds' pitching staff that seemed to be struggling.
Harris' unwillingness to draw walks led to plenty of jokes when he finally drew one on Saturday during the Braves' 5-2 win over the Reds. After all, Harris had only drawn seven walks ALL SEASON to that point and hadn't drawn one at all over his previous 12 games. However, when Harris drew multiple walks for the first time since May 18, 2025 in the next game, that got some folks' attention. If Harris is getting free passes in addition to all of the hard contact and chaos on the base paths he provides, that is going to level up his profile in a big way.
In fact, boasting even a modest walk rate in the 6% range would probably make Harris one of the leading candidates for NL MVP this year. Harris is already putting up the vast majority of the other counting stats he needs to, and his defense in center field is elite. If he can get to a .360ish OBP, the steals numbers are likely to go up, and his value would go up significantly. Given that he has already been a top-20 hitter by fWAR without much of an OBP and with that quad injury that slowed him for a week or so, that sort of boost could vault Harris into the game's true elite tier in a hurry.
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