NEW YORK — Michael Harris II made the trip with the Braves. He is working out before the games and progressing through his rehab for a Grade 2 left hamstring strain. He is with his teammates and watches the games.
He cannot play, though.
And for a competitor, this is excruciating.
“It hasn’t been easy,” Harris said Friday at Citi Field. “I don’t really enjoy watching baseball as much from the dugout. I’m just doing everything I can to help the team out now and be there for them, and then when it’s my time to come back to the field, try to contribute on the field as well.”
No doubt, the Braves need Harris. They also could use Ozzie Albies and Max Fried. And Ronald Acuña Jr. And Spencer Strider.
Injuries are never convenient.
Before he can contribute, Harris, a Stockbridge High alum, first must continue healing and ramping up at a measured pace. He had to briefly halt it all when he suffered a minor setback around a week and a half ago. He felt soreness that he said didn’t come as the result of something specific, but was because of everything he was doing to build up following the injury.
“It wasn’t anything major,” Harris said. “Just something I had to take a little bit of time from so it didn’t get any worse. It just ended up being a little bit of soreness. Now I’m able to move forward again and just kind of repeat some of the steps.”
He’s not eligible to return from the injured list until Aug. 14, and he feels he can be ready around then.
“I think it lines up perfectly,” Harris said of that timeline. “Just be able to get all my stuff in and be able to get some rehab games in, it would be two months. Yeah, just getting the proper care of training back to doing baseball stuff and getting back in games. I feel like that’s a good timeline.”
On Thursday, Harris did some suicide runs – ones where he would run for 10 yards at a time. It isn’t full sprinting. He hasn’t yet sprinted – not before feeling the soreness, and not after that.
Asked if he was 100% before experiencing soreness, Harris said: “No, but I was pretty close to – I wouldn’t say being back with the team, but being able to try to do some other stuff (required) for me to play in the games.”
The Braves entered Saturday having lost six consecutive games – something they hadn’t done since 2017. They still aren’t hitting consistently enough. They’re not getting much offensive production from their outfield.
Jarred Kelenic – who is batting leadoff and playing center field in Harris’ absence – went into Saturday batting .139 in July. Adam Duvall was hitting .184 for the season before homering twice on Friday. Ramón Laureano is coming back from an injury. Since signing with the Braves, Eddie Rosario is 8-for-49, though two of those hits have been homers, and he’s helped the Braves win two games.
At first, it appeared Kelenic had found a home in the leadoff spot. But now he’s scuffling like almost all of the others.
Would Braves manager Brian Snitker make a change in the leadoff spot?
“I’ve kind of ran it through my head, but I’m having a hard time coming up with somebody, honestly,” Snitker said. “Because he’s been struggling – like a lot of guys. At some point, we just may have to go with something out of the box, and try that.”
And about the outfield situation?
“They’re all getting an opportunity,” Snitker said. “If somebody gets hot, they’re gonna keep getting ran in there. That’s all you can do.”
The Braves could trade for an outfielder ahead of Tuesday’s deadline. It’s one of their needs.
They also expect to get Harris back. But is that the answer? It might only be part of it. Before the hamstring strain, Harris was batting only .250, with a .653 OPS. The Braves probably need additional help considering Acuña is out for the season.
The brutal part for Harris: At one point before the hamstring soreness popped up, he thought he might beat the timeline to return.
“Yeah, actually my body felt a lot better than what images showed or what other things showed,” he said. “I kind of looked it up myself, and it said Grade 2 (hamstring strain) is normally six to eight weeks, but I was feeling good after the next week and a half, second week, so I thought maybe I would’ve gotten out there a little bit earlier. But obviously my body was telling me to slow down a little bit, with the soreness I felt and stuff. I’m just glad I didn’t rush back out there and reinjure it again and make it worse.”
Snitker and the Braves are in a difficult spot. Not only are they dealing with injuries, but their stars have, for the most part, underperformed.
On offense, it feels like everything that can go wrong … has gone wrong.
“That’s what makes it rough,” Snitker said. “This thing’s a grind, man, and it’s never easy, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any easier, either. We just gotta keep fighting our way through it, and hopefully at some point, something breaks.”
Eventually, Harris will return to help the Braves drive toward October.
“It’s, I guess, a longer process than expected,” Harris said. “The most important part is trying to be available for the end of the year and try to make a push.”
