After Double-A Mississippi manager Bruce Crabbe shared the special news with Michael Harris following Friday night’s game, Harris first called his parents – only he didn’t tell them the full truth. Harris, who is from metro Atlanta, simply asked if they could pick him up from the airport Saturday morning. They were confused.
Soon, they found out why he was coming home.
The Braves – the team he rooted for growing up – called him up and made his dream a reality.
“Honestly, I didn’t think it would be this soon,” Harris said at Truist Park on Saturday. “But anything can happen, and obviously it happened. It’s just a great feeling being here, it’s really numb to me right now.”
Over the first couple of months of the season, Harris’ teammates at Double-A Mississippi would often ask the same question among themselves about the organization’s top prospect: What is he still doing here?
Apparently, Braves leadership, beginning with president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos, felt the same way.
“To be honest with you, it’s every day. It’s like a new thing every single day,” said Mississippi pitcher Jake Higginbotham, one of Harris’ (former) teammates. “We’ll sit down in the bullpen in the first inning, everyone will be like, ‘All right, what incredible thing is Mike going to do today?’ We talk about it all the time. He’s one of the best baseball players that I’ve ever played with.”
After delivering the news to Harris, Crabbe addressed his club as a whole. Everyone went crazy for Harris, who appeared to be fighting back emotions as his teammates applauded him. They thought he might be headed to Triple-A Gwinnett.
No, the big club had summoned him.
They knew this would soon come.
Over 174 at-bats at Double-A this season, the 21-year-old Harris hit .305 with an .878 OPS. He hit five home runs, drove in 33 runs and stole 11 bases. MLB Pipeline ranked him as the Braves’ top prospect.
He could be a five-tool player in the majors. It certainly seems as if he’ll provide a boost to the Braves’ outfield.
“I feel like if you go out there and give 110% every day and not really focus on results, just go out there and have fun, a lot of good things can happen for you,” said Harris, a Stockbridge High alumnus.
Harris, whose dad picked him up from the airport, is now here to help the team for which he grew up rooting. He remembers Jason Heyward – who is from the same area – homering in his debut in 2010 with the Braves. “Getting a lot of comparisons to him when I was younger makes me feel confident about myself and feel like I can have a successful career like he has,” Harris said. Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones were also a couple of his favorite players.
When Harris entered the clubhouse, the big leaguers congratulated him. This isn’t simply a feel-good tale of a hometown kid making it to the majors. No, Harris can help this club.
“Really good player,” Austin Riley said. “The times I’ve seen him in spring, very professional ABs and very good swing. I really like his swing. Very athletic. I know it’s an exciting time. I remember when my debut was – it’s a special time.”
“He’s one of the guys I used to love to watch play, watch hit,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He’s a very impressive kid, and I enjoy watching him, being around him, getting to know him. He’s a quality kid.”
The Braves in 2019 drafted Harris in the third round. The industry believed him to be a pitcher out of high school, but the Braves saw something different. They thought he had the skills to be an impact position player.
The rest, as they say, is history.
In his first full season of professional baseball in 2021, Harris hit .294 with a .798 OPS. He stole 27 bases in 31 attempts. Then he went on a tear at Double-A to begin this season. In total, he played 197 games in pro ball before the Braves called him up.
“The stuff that we see him do on a daily basis on a baseball field, it’s like this guy seems like he’s been playing ball for 20 years in the big leagues,” said Higginbotham, the Double-A pitcher. “I don’t know, it’s just like the world moves slower to him and he makes everything look really easy.”
Higginbotham said Harris’ maturity is also impressive. “He could go 0-for-4 at the plate one day and you would see him after the game and would’ve thought he hit three doubles and a home run,” he said. Nothing, the pitcher said, seems to overwhelm Harris.
For his MLB debut, Harris was in the starting lineup in center field, batted ninth and went 1-for-3. His inclusion in the lineup allows the Braves to use Adam Duvall, their center fielder to this point, in one of the corner spots. It also boosts the Braves’ outfield defense, something that has at times been an issue, because Harris and Ronald Acuña will be in the same outfield.
“I don’t think many balls are going to find the grass,” Riley said with a smile.
“It was a surreal feeling seeing my jersey in the locker with my last name on it,” Harris said. “Just being in the lineup today is just a very surreal feeling.”
Harris said he expected his mom, dad, sister, girlfriend and a few friends to be at Truist Park for Saturday’s game versus the Marlins. And from a distance, his former teammates will be cheering for him as he takes the next step in his career.
“He’s the best teammate,” Higginbotham said. “I don’t know that the guy’s ever had a bad day in his life. He’s always smiling, he’s funny, everyone loves him, he brings great energy, and just an incredible baseball player, too. He’s the whole package, he’s the real deal.”
Under Anthopoulos, the Braves have been aggressive in their pursuit of winning. That includes their handling of minor leaguers. If they believe someone can help them win, then that’s that. And Snitker has said it repeatedly: Once a prospect reaches Double-A, he becomes a candidate to help the big club.
And now, Harris, perhaps the club’s most exciting prospect in years, has arrived.
“Nothing can really match the moment actually being here,” Harris said. “You can always dream about it, but actually being here? I don’t think anything tops it at all.”
