Nearly three weeks since he left an April 6 game against the Padres, the Atlanta Braves star center fielder Michael Harris II is finally on his way back. Rehabbing from back stiffness, on Wednesday night 21-year-old Michael Harris II hit leadoff and started in center for Triple-A Gwinnett in a game against the Buffalo Bisons (Blue Jays AAA affiliate).

Last night Harris went 1 for 3 in a Stripers 2-1 victory. In the first inning he grounded out softly, walked in the third and was retired in the fifth from a sharply hit grounder to short. But in the seventh, Harris broke through with his first career knock at the Triple-A level when he inside-outed a line drive to left for a single.

Showing off his speed, just a few pitches after his base-hit Harris stole second. Although he was eventually stranded at third that inning when Charlie Culberson struck out swinging, Harris’s rehab outing was successful as it showed all facets of his game with no hindrance.

The Stripers/Bisons contest on Wednesday didn’t feature a ton of excitement, though a timely home run and some dominant work from the Gwinnett bullpen ended up being the difference. Against starter Nolan Kingham, Buffalo got on the board in the second with a sac-fly. But the Stripers quickly answered in the third, thanks to an RBI single by Forrest Wall. Gwinnett then took the lead in the fifth when Braden Shewmake absolutely demolished a solo-homer over the right field wall – his fourth dinger of the season.

That 2-1 advantage would be just enough for the Stripers, as neither team was able to push across anymore runs. Credit should be given to both bullpens in this one, though especially Gwinnett’s. After just three innings from Kingham (57 pitches overall), a quartet of Grant Holmes, Brian Moran, Joe Harvey and Yacksel Rios combined to punch out five Buffalo batters in six frames of work, all while allowing just a pair of hits and no walks. All four relievers used in last night’s contest are presently carrying a 3.00 ERA or lower so far this season. That bullpen has been one of the few bright spots for a Stripers club that’s mostly struggled thus far in 2023; the win puts Gwinnett at 8-14 overall.

More importantly, though, Harris is on the cusp of returning to Atlanta, which is very good news. The trip to the IL came rather early in the season, allowing him only seven big league games so far in 2023, but Harris came out of the gate pretty hot to start the campaign, recording a hit in each of his first four games, before going just 1 for 9 leading up to his injury.

This year’s projections are calling for some regression for Harris, though he’s still expected to be an All-Star caliber player. FanGraphs’ ZiPS pegs him for 3.7 WAR in 2023, with a .273 AVG, 116 wRC+, 17 home runs and 19 stolen bases in 119 total games – a roughly 1-WAR drop compared to his 4.8-WAR, NL RoY campaign last season. Given Harris completely skipped the Triple-A level before making his MLB debut in ’22 (after just 43 games in AA), I’d say a bit of regression is plenty acceptable.

On Wednesday, when it was reported that Harris would begin his rehab assignment, Braves manager Brian Snitker was unable to provide a firm timeline on when he might be activated from the IL. Given he only missed a few weeks and not months, I wouldn’t imagine too long of an assignment, as long as his back continues to feel good. The Braves will wrap up its current homestand today against the Marlins (first pitch at 12:20 PM), before hitting the road tomorrow for what will be a seven-game road trip versus the Mets and Marlins (again), respectively. If Atlanta were to wait until returning home next Friday (May 5) against the Orioles, that would give Harris another seven games in Triple-A, or roughly 25-30 more at-bats. Surely that’s plenty to ensure he’s 100%.

Braves Activate Harris

Getting Michael Harris II back is obviously a huge get for the Braves, but I can’t end this article without giving fill-in Sam Hilliard some love. Thanks to Hilliard’s work in Harris’ absence, Atlanta has been getting above-average production from its center field position, ranking tied for ninth in center field WAR since April 7, thanks to a .306 AVG and three home runs from Hilliard in that span. The guy will strikeout a ton (40.7% K rate since April 7), but he has shown some nice power at the plate over the last few weeks, even posting a two-homer performance in Tuesday’s 11-0 blowout over Miami. Though many had never heard of him, Hilliard is a toolsy player, and a former prospect in the Rockies system. And he’s definitely earned a spot with this team.

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