Harris slugs out of slump with breakout game

ATLANTA -- It may have only been a matter of time for Michael Harris II. But that didn’t make the wait any more comfortable for the Braves' center fielder.

Harris halted the most frustrating stretch of his career as he homered and enjoyed just his second multihit performance of the season in a 6-4 loss to the Phillies on Friday night at Truist Park. His contributions weren’t enough to overcome another ugly bullpen performance, but they were enough to strengthen his psyche.

“I’m just trying to help my team win,” Harris said. “I haven’t really done that lately. But today, I felt like I got back in the groove and I feel confident again.”

As Harris stood at his locker following this game, you could see a sense of relief. He wasn’t flashing that big smile we saw so often as he navigated his way to the National League Rookie of the Year Award last year. But his words and expressions indicated how refreshing this performance was.

Harris ended a 1-for-28 skid with a two-run homer in the fifth inning, then added a seventh-inning single and drew a ninth-inning walk. He exited this game certainly not feeling like a guy who had arrived at the stadium hitting .165 with a .479 OPS through his first 101 plate appearances of the season.

“We’ve seen what he can do,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Hopefully, this was a good stepping stone for him.”

Harris spent this week diligently taking early batting practice under the watchful eyes of hitting coach Kevin Seitzer and hitting consultant Chipper Jones. They wanted the 22-year-old outfielder to focus on hitting opposite-field line drives throughout batting practice.

"The quickest way to get him on plane with the baseball is to work on hitting the ball through the shortstop,” Jones said earlier this week. “It's not sexy and not fun for him, but the fact is you have to overexaggerate the adjustments to hit the happy medium. Trying to get him to go through the shortstop will promote line drives to left-center.”

Safe to say, Seitzer and Jones were thrilled when Harris drilled his fifth-inning homer against Taijuan Walker over the left-center-field wall. Hitting the ball the other way with power is nothing knew for the left-handed slugger. He hit six opposite-field homers last year, the sixth-highest total in the Majors between his May 28, 2022, big league debut and the end of the season.

Harris' ability to hit to all fields was seen routinely on his way to hitting .297 with 19 homers and an .853 OPS over 114 games last year. That’s what made it easy for many members of the Braves' organization to think it was just a matter of time before he broke out of his funk.

“You’ve got to tell yourself to remain patient, believe in yourself and play the game that you play,” Harris said.

Part of the problem is multiple ailments have prevented Harris from finding a groove. He played just seven games before spending three weeks on the injured list with a sore lower back. Five games after being activated from the IL, he tweaked his right knee. Harris rested for two days, then spent two weeks wearing a bulky knee brace that restricted him until he removed it on May 19, exactly one week before this breakout game.

“I guess [the injuries and uncomfortable stretch with the brace] kind of affected my mechanics,” Harris said. “I just had to bring that back once I was 100 percent and dealt with all of that.”

Snitker was confident Harris would eventually break out of his skid. At the same time, Snitker knew the young outfielder was strong enough mentally to handle being pinch-hit for in Thursday’s 8-5 win over the Phillies. The move proved to be a good one as Travis d’Arnaud came off the bench to deliver a go-ahead two-run single in the eighth.

“We know how talented he is and what he can do when he gets it going,” Snitker said of Harris. “It’s a learning process.”

Fortunately, the pupil seems to be a quick learner. This is also a good time of year. He’ll enjoy the one-year anniversary of his MLB debut on Sunday.

“I feel like I’m going to start having some success now,” Harris said.