Baseball America recently just updated their Top 100 Prospects list, and the Braves have a new member — the toolsy Michael Harris. Over the last two seasons, despite playing just 52 games, Harris has turned heads around the Braves organization and boomed up prospect lists everywhere, which is pretty incredible considering he didn’t even play last season. However, we have seen so far in 2021 why everyone is so high on this kid.
Harris is making light work of high-A ball, posting a .352 batting average over the first 27 games with three homers, seven doubles, and nine steals. He’s also playing fantastic defense in the outfield. His walk rate is slightly concerning, but who wants to walk when you’re swinging the stick like Harris is. A promotion to AA is likely in his near future, and he could very well be the top prospect in the organization by season’s end. Harris came in at #99
The Braves also had three other prospects on the list. Cristian Pache unsurprisingly dropped after his horrid start to the year in Atlanta. He’s now ranked #20 after being #7 at the beginning of the year. I still have plenty of faith in Pache developing into a core piece of the Braves, but he must improve offensively before relying on him to be the starting centerfielder in Atlanta again.
Right behind Pache on the list at #22 is Drew Waters, who moved up two spots. He’s enjoying a pretty encouraging start to the season with Gwinnett, hitting .263 with a .365 OBP, three homers, and six doubles. Shea Langeliers is the last Braves prospect to make the list, and his jump in these rankings is well-deserved. On top of being an absolute stud behind the plate defensively, he’s raking in AA Mississippi, posting an OPS of over 1.000 with seven homers in just 24 games. Langeliers came in just in front of Harris at #94.
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