#michael-harris-ii

#michael-harris-ii

If there's one thing that definitely feels like it needs correcting over and over, it's the idea that Michael Harris II has declined consistently since his rookie year. He hasn't, but his results have. Harris won the 2022 NL Rookie of the Year award with 4.7 fWAR in 441 PAs... because he outhit his .335 xwOBA by an egregious amount. Only 12 other hitters with more PAs than Harris outhit their xwOBA by more that year. In 2023, his xwOBA went up but the wOBA went down, so 3.7 fWAR in 539 PAs.

Everything about Michael Harris II's 2025 season was a study in extreme contrasts. His outputs were horrendously offensively, then scintillating, and then back to horrendous. He massively underhit his xwOBA in four of the season's six calendar months; only four players that got the full suite of 600+ PAs this season underhit it by more than Harris. And yet, he somehow finished in the top 40 in MLB in RBI... despite negative WPA and RE24,

Luis Robert Jr. hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning, contributing to a six-run rally that led the Chicago White Sox to a 13-9 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

Michael Harris II moving to the fifth spot in the batting order signals the Braves' strategic attempt to balance lineup versatility with player performance, as they experiment with their roster to maintain competitive advantages.