Over the past few weeks, Michael Harris II’s insanely hot stretch of baseball has been well documented. The league wide recognition of Harris’ turnaround after reverting to his old batting stance has been a delight to witness for Atlanta Braves fans.
Still, often the question that arises regarding MH2’s hot streak is “Can he sustain it?” Sure, the plate discipline isn’t want you would ideally want from any hitter really, but the hard-hit rate and ability to start getting more baseballs in the air is something that should continue to fuel Harris’ success. In fact, more than one person around baseball thinks Michael Harris II is on an upward trajectory for not just this season but the years that follow.
Several key stats point to Michael Harris II sustaining success which is music to Braves fans ears
As long as Michael Harris II has been in the big leagues, lifting the baseball was often a good indicator on if he was having success at the plate. Hitting the baseball hard has never been an issue for Harris, but his subpar launch angle typically was.
Thankfully, the adjustment Harris made with his hands has led to a more uppercut swing path, thus improving his launch angle and cutting his groundball rate by 14.1%. It was also pointed out in an excellent article by Jared Greenspan of mlb.com, that Harris has begun to feast on pitches in the strike zone.
Because Michael Harris II is such a free swinger at the dish, improving his first half numbers against pitches in the strike zone was vital. Tim Hyers spoke about this earlier in the season, and Harris has finally started to produce the desired results over the past few weeks. In the first half of the season, Harris had a .410 slugging percentage on pitches in the strike zone; in the second half of the season, Harris has an absurd .900 slugging percentage on pitches in the strike zone. He is basically punishing anything that comes over the plate.
This type of turnaround from Harris is so drastic that it’s gotten national attention despite the Braves being firmly out of postseason contention. Regardless, Harris has sparked the entire Braves offense to follow his lead and turn things around collectively. It’s no coincidence that the Braves have begun to put up runs at annoyingly better rate now that 2/3rd’s of their outfield isn’t a total zero at the plate.
It’s important that Harris continues to churn out good at-bats over the season’s final month, as his success corresponds a lot with how far the Braves go in 2026. If Harris can carry this momentum into the offseason like many experts think he can, then Alex Anthopoulos can reallocate that time and money towards perhaps another need on the Braves roster.
