Atlanta Braves center fielder Michael Harris had his long-awaited big day in Spring Training. In an offensive explosion against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday, he went 2-for-4 with both hits leaving the yard. Both home runs came in the top of the fifth inning as the Braves batted around.
He led off the inning with a solo blast to make it to make it 3-0. He followed it up later in the inning with a three-run shot that made it 10-0. His four RBIs were part of a nine-run onslaught that had the Braves up 11-0 once the frame was in the books.
Heading into the game, Harris had just one hit in his previous 12 at-bats and was posting a .143/.182/.143 slash line during Grapefruit League play. One game saw his spring totals boost to .200/.231/.440.
It’s only one game, but it’s a hopeful sign that his bat is starting to get going.
Harris is coming off a subpar season by his standards as a whole, but he’s still ranked among the top center fielders in the game. Last season, Harris finished with a .264 average and a .722 OPS with 16 home runs and 48 RBIs.
MLB Network’s The Shedder ranked the 24-year-old center fielder fourth overall. He was also named a dark horse candidate to win the MVP by MLB.com. Baseball America also labeled him as a candidate to be a first-time All-Star this season.
A late-season spark gave a glimpse into these predictions and rankings.
In 43 games after returning from the Injured List, Harris slashed .283/.318/.506 with 11 of those home runs and 28 RBIs.
He picked up the pace even further in September. That month, Harris slashed .316/.344/.579 with eight home runs and 18 RBIs. To put it into greater perspective, that’s a 162-game pace of 50 home runs and 112 RBIs.
He got to see another look at that power on Wednesday. In time, we’ll see if this becomes a trend.
As of the posting of this story, the Braves are beating the Orioles 11-2 after six innings.
