Michael Harris is playing his best baseball of the year when his Braves need him most. The 2022 National League Rookie of The Year homered five times in his last seven games and is hitting .486 over that span to earn himself the top spot on our final #HighFive list of the season.
1. “Money” Michael Harris
With Ronald Acuna, Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies among others shelved with injuries while Atlanta chases the final National League Wild Card spot, Harris has turned his game up another level.
He has multiple hits in six of his last seven games including three three-hit contests, one coming last Thursday in a two-homer game against the Reds to help eliminate them from contention.
On Tuesday, Harris showed the world why he is one of the top five-tool players in the Majors.
He finished a triple shy of the cycle, hit his eighth home run in the month of September, matching his total from the rest of the season and made a diving catch earlier that game to preserve a 4-0 lead.
The Braves will face the Royals over the weekend before their Monday double header against the Mets that could decide the final playoff spot.
2. Aaron Judge
Aaron Judge, who sat atop the #HighFive for most of 2024 takes the second spot on our Week 25 list after hitting a home run in four consecutive games.
Judge’s 2024 was one of the best offensive seasons in Major League history.
In addition to leading baseball in most all hitting categories, his 10.6 Offensive WAR is top 20 in the history of baseball and is the highest mark since Judge’s 10.3 in 2022. Before that, you have to go to Barry Bonds 2001 MVP year where he finished with a 12.4 WAR, the highest ever recorded.
In his last seven games Judge slashed .364/.533/.955 with four homers, eight RBI, eight walks and a stolen base.
3. Byron Buxton
“As long as we win that is all that matters,” Byron Buxton told reporters after a big win Wednesday night to put his Twins two games out of the last Wild Card spot.
Buxton, who has hits in five consecutive games hit a 450-ft game-tying blast to tie Wednesday’s contest against the Marlins.
This was the first season Buxton played 100 games in since playing 140 in 2017. Although he still missed more time than he wanted to, this was a step in the right direction.
4. Giancarlo Stanton
Giancarlo Stanton is finishing his regular season strong as he looks to play a major factor this postseason.
He is hitting .333 with a homer and four RBI over his last five games as the Yankees look to clinch the top seed in the American League.
Wednesday night marked the 13th time this season Stanton and Judge have homered in the same game which only trails the duo of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle who did it 14 times in 1961.
5. Lawrence Butler “Law Dawg”
Lawrence Butler is the final member of the Oakland Athletics to make earn a spot on our #HighFive list.
“We hear them, we care about them and this means a lot to them,” Butler told reporters when discussing the team’s decision to wear their kelly green jerseys with “Oakland” across their every game during the final homestand at the Coliseum.
Butler surged this season after spending a few weeks in Triple A and I believe he will be on the All-Star team next year in his hometown of Atlanta.
He hit .364 with a stolen base during the last series against the Rangers and on the season has hit 22 home runs, 20 of them coming since June 30th.
With slightly over two weeks remaining in the MLB regular season, teams are making their final push towards the postseason. While the playoffs are sure to be exciting, there’s always a downside; there will be good teams and players that will miss out.
The playoffs are always better with more MLBbros in it, but all of them cannot make it.
Some MLBbros such as Mookie Betts and Byron Buxton are helping to ensure their teams’ success, but others are faltering in a crucial part of the season. These MLBbros could find themselves missing out on October fun.
Michael Harris II
Atlanta Braves center fielder and MLBbro Michael Harris II experienced his toughest MLB season so far in his young career.
After a hot start, his average has dropped significantly lower than his first two seasons, but he still has delivered Gold Glove defense in the field. But his team needs more production from him to sustain their playoff hopes. The Atlanta Braves sit one game out of the third NL Wild Card slot. It will be a race to the finish.
The MLBbro has been batting slightly better in September which bodes well for Atlanta. If “Money Mike” can return to his from his first two years, it could be enough to spark another playoff berth in Atlanta.
The Seattle Mariners shortstop has not had what one would consider a good year by most standards. Batting .200 on the season with only 23 extra-base hits is far from what the MLBbro is capable of. This is the lowest batting average of his career, and it has come batting predominantly in the leadoff spot.
Despite his struggles, Seattle is four games out of the third Wild Card spot in the AL with 16 games to go. There’s a glimmer of hope. Over the past week Crawford has been better with five hits in seven days. It may be too little too late.
The American League Central race is all but over, with the Milwaukee Brewers firmly in control. The Chicago Cubs have sprinted ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals in September and the Cardinals must rely on their players to right the ship. Young phenom Masyn Winn is a wizard at shortstop and is a very capable hitter.
However, his struggles in the second half of the season have plagued the Cardinals. He has stolen bases at a drastically lower pace, and his average has dropped. In September, the final month of the regular season the MLBbro is batting .114.
As a future cornerstone of the franchise, Winn needs to find a way to regain momentum as the Cardinals are fading out of Wild Card contention, back six games of the third NL spot with just 16 games left.
Michael Harris II and the Atlanta Braves walked out of Truist Field with a 3-2 extra-inning victory over the Washington Nationals on Friday night. They also pulled a game closer to the Phillies in the NL East race thanks to some Harris heroics.
Michael Harris came into the game with 43 career home runs but none of them led off a game. Hello 44. Harris’s Friday night 410-foot shot off of Washington Nationals starter, MacKenzie Gore, came out of the lead off spot in the first inning. You might think Harris was setting the tone for the game, but Gore went on to pitch six innings with four strikeouts and no walks with Harris’s homer being the only run he allowed.
With not much happening after Harris’s homer, we can fast forward to the 10th inning where the Braves and Nationals are tied at 2. In the top of the inning Bro, CJ Abrams, pinch hit for Nasim Nunez, who had gotten the start at Abrams’s usual spot: shortstop. CJ popped out which is inconsequential except that it put him in the field for the bottom of the 10th after sitting in the dugout for nearly three hours.
Deep in the grass for the first batter, CJ made the play on a ground ball as the ghost runner moved to third. After a line out, there was a man on third with two outs and Michael Harris II coming to bat. As expected, he hit it to CJ Abrams who picked it up cleanly and then threw it wide and low to first as he was compensating for Harris’s speed. Safe at first. Run scored. Braves win.
“I gotta make a better throw in that situation,” Abrams said after the game. “Maybe take a little more time. I think I had more time than I thought.”
There was no RBI on the play for Harris, but maybe he should get one. His speed is what caused Abrams to flub the throw. “In that situation, with two outs, you try to put the ball in play and see what happens,” Harris said.
Michael Harris II and the Atlanta Braves had already lost one superstar for the season, and over the weekend, things got worse.
Reigning National League MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. joined ace Spencer Strider on the season-ending IL with a torn left ACL after faking toward third and attempting a return to second base. ACL tears are extremely rare in baseball, and now Acuna has torn both in four years.
Atlanta, already six games behind Taijuan Walker and the Philadelphia Phillies at the start of play Monday, will now look to remain in the playoff hunt without two of the best players in baseball.
Harris was open with his feelings about losing Ronnie for the season.
“It’s a huge hit to this team. The kind of player he is, what he does for us. For him to go through it once but now have to go through it twice I know that really is hitting him hard. He’s changing the game, he does a lot of things that people can’t do and he does it at a high rate. Obviously last year his numbers speak for themselves.”
With their best offensive weapon lost for the season, Harris knows that it will take a team effort to replace his production. “We’ve gotta try even harder to do little things to get momentum in games. Pitchers are still doing a phenomenal job, we just got to step up at the plate a little more and help them out.”
Harris has started to find his groove at the plate, despite his power numbers still lagging behind. Over his last seven games, Michael is hitting .310 with one home run for the Braves.
Atlanta is no stranger to life without Ronnie (they won the 2021 World Series while he was recovering from his first ACL tear), so General Manager Alex Anthopoulos is likely to hit the trade market to help bolster a Braves roster that is still talented enough to make the playoffs.
Tommy Pham Can Help Atlanta
One name that the Braves should certainly look at is Chicago White Sox outfielder Tommy Pham. Tommy was signed by Chicago after the injury to All-Star centerfielder Luis Robert Jr. with all intentions of being dealt by the trade deadline.
Pham has been productive for Chicago since his arrival, slashing .307/.352./.799 with three home runs and 12 RBI in 114 at-bats. While those numbers pale in comparison to the 2023 NL MVP, Tommy is a veteran who has proven he can provide a spark to a playoff team.
Last season, the Arizona Diamondbacks acquired the veteran outfielder and he was one of their top contributors throughout their run to the World Series. Pham hit .429 in the NLDS and despite the loss, hit an impressive .421 with three doubles in the World Series.
Chicago is at the bottom of the AL Central with no intentions of contending in 2024. A call from Atlanta would be more than welcomed.
Michael Harris II bounced back nicely from a recent ten game slump, going 3-3, including an RBI single to center field that drove in Austin Riley, to extend the Braves lead in the 4th inning. He also ran down and snagged a screaming drive to deep center field in the bottom of the seventh inning, preventing a sure extra base hit off the bat of J.D. Martinez to help temporarily hold on to a no-hit bid. The Braves would go on to lose the no-hitter in the ninth inning, but ultimately won the game 4-1.
The Braves center fielder was overdue for a breakthrough game at the plate. Coming into Saturday’s game against The Mets, Harris II was batting a paltry 0.28, with just one hit in his last 36 at-bats. Unsurprisingly, the Braves played mediocre baseball, going (5-5) during this time frame.
Like most quality hitters enduring a prolonged hitting slide, the numbers suggested Mike was pressing a bit, as his chase rate had noticeably increased this season to 44.9%, a career high. Or was it simply just bad luck? Harris has walked just two times during his hitting funk, and has been putting the ball in play, making a lot of solid contact in his plate appearances. His hard hit rate is just slightly down from last season, 48.5% to 46.4%.
Last season, Money Mike, slotted mainly between the middle and lower half of the order, saved his best for the nine hole, where he became the most feared nine hitter in baseball. He hit .293 with 18 bro bombs, and 57 RBIs in 2023.
The ‘24 season started off promising for Harris II, as he was leading the team or near the team lead for hits, triples, home runs, total bases, batting average, slugging percentage and WAR during the first 21 games of the season, in which ATL held a 17-7 record. We at MLBbro believe Money Mike to be the backbone of this Atlanta Braves offense.
The Philadelphia Phillies are the hottest team in baseball right now, leading the league in wins with 28 while sweeping teams left and right courtesy of their solid pitching and impressive, offensive production. When you take a look inside the numbers, it’s not hard to figure out why; they rank top three in almost every major hitting and pitching statistical category.
Yet, in spite of all of that, the Atlanta Braves are sitting just 2.5 games out of first place, continuing to stay dangerous in the NL East, a division they’ve maintained a chokehold on over the past six seasons. If the Braves plan to keep pace with the red hot Phillies, and eventually supplant them atop the division, they’re going to need more performances from Michael Harris II, like the one they got yesterday against the Mets.
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