Michael Harris II #23

On Aug. 16, 2022, the club announced Harris II signed an eight-year contract extension, including club options for 2031 & 2032...Selected by the Braves in the third round (98th overall) of the 2019 First-Year Player Draft.

2022

Awards: National League Rookie of the Year, National League Rookie of the Month (3x), Baseball America MLB All-Rookie Team...NL Ranks: Stolen bases (T9th, 20)...21-year-old Michael Harris II played his first Major League season in 2022...He finished with a .297 batting average (123-for-414), 19 home runs, 64 RBI and 75 runs scored...On Aug. 16, the club announced Harris II signed an eight-year contract extension, including club options for 2031 & 2032...Among rookies with at least 300 plate appearances, ranked highly in multiple categories: Slugging Percentage (first, .514), OPS (second, 853), Batting Average (second, .297), RBI (fourth, 64), Runs (fourth, 75), Stolen Bases (fourth, 20), Home Runs (T4th, 19), On-Base Percentage (sixth, .339)...Hit. 383 (36-for-94) with runners in scoring position, third-best in MLB (min. 400 PA) behind Freddie Freeman (LAD, .391) and Joc Pederson (SF, .388)...The rookie to match Harris’ .383 batting average with RISP (min. 400 PA) was Oakland’s Jemile Weeks, who hit .395 (32-for-81) in those situations in 2011...Last N.L. rookie was Todd Helton (COL), who hit .386 (51-for-132) with RISP during the '98 season...Was named National League Rookie of the Month in June, August and September...The last players to win three Rookie of the Month awards in the same season were Yordan Álvarez and Pete Alonso, who each did it in 2019...Álvarez won it in the American League from June-August, while Alonso won it in the National League in April, June and September...In “Late & Close” situations, Harris hit .406/.449/.719 (26-for-64) with five doubles, five home runs, 13 RBI and a 1.168 OPS...Harris is only the sixth player, 21-or-younger, in modern MLB history (since 1901) to bat above .400 in late & close situations (min. 400 PA), and the first since Hall-of-Famer Ted Simmons (STL) hit .410 in such situations in 1971...“Late & Close” situations are defined as plate appearances occurring in the seventh inning or later with the batting team tied, ahead by one, or the tying run at least on deck...Posted a 4.8 fWAR this season, the second-highest by a Braves rookie hitter in modern franchise history...Rico Carty accumulated 4.9 fWAR in his rookie 1964 season...On the pitching side, Irv Young (5.6 fWAR, 1905) and Spencer Strider (4.8 fWAR, 2022) have also reached Harris’ mark...Hit .489 (22-for-45) on the first pitch this season, good for second in the NL and sixth in MLB among all players (min. 400 PA)...Riley Greene (DET, .500) was the only rookie ahead of him...The last Brave to eclipse .489 on the first pitch (min. 400 PA) was Freddie Freeman, who hit .494 on the initial offering in 2016.

2021

Spent the entire 2021 season at High-A Rome, posting a .294 batting average (110-for-374) with 26 doubles, three triples, seven home runs and 64 RBI...Appeared at all three outfield positions as well as designated hitter...Enters the 2022 system as the No. 1 prospect in Atlanta's farm system, according to MLB.com.

2020

Added to Atlanta's 60-man player pool on 7/15...Spent the rest of the season at the club's alternate training site...Appeared in two exhibition games during summer camp in July…Went 1-for-4 (.250) with one RBI and two strikeouts...Ended the season ranked by MLB.com as Atlanta’s No. 12 prospect.

2019

Split his first professional season between rookie-level GCL and Single-A Rome, batting .277 (53-for-191) with two home runs, 27 RBI, eight stolen bases and 26 runs scored in 53 games...Named by the organization as the GCL Braves’ Player of the Year…Led the team in batting average (.349), on-base percentage (.403), slugging percentage (.514) and OPS (.917)…Also tabbed as the club’s Player of the Month for July…Batted .379/.423/.561 in 19 games that month.