Braves Hayden Harris Receives Minor League Honor

Harris earns the honor after pitching to an absurd 0.52 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP across 52 innings pitched in 43 games. 

The Augusta, Ga., native earned a spot on the National League’s All-Star Futures Game roster alongside fellow Braves prospect JR Ritchie. He pitched to a single batter, striking him out. 

It’s an honor that likely didn’t surprise many who have gotten to play alongside him. 

“Hayden’s put in a lot of great work,” Ritchie said before the Futures Game. “Unconventional delivery. Really making the most out of his opportunity, and it’s really special to see, because, I mean, the guy’s just a bulldog.” 

Harris began his season with Double-A Columbus, working his way up to the Majors (twice) before the season’s end. He got both call-ups in September after the active roster expanded from 26 players to 28. 

He had a 3.38 ERA in his three MLB appearances. It served as an audition to break camp with the big league team next season. 

It’s quite the journey for Harris to reach this point. He went undrafted out of Georgia Southern and had to use LinkedIn to reach scouts. The Braves took a waiver on him, signing him in July 2022. 

At the end of the 2025 season, Harris is ranked as the No. 26 prospect in the system. To show how quickly he moved up, he was not a top-30 prospect to start the 2023 or 2024 season. 

Hayden joins Braves’ No. 19 prospect Ian Mejia in receiving an end-of-season nod from Minor League Baseball. Mejia was named a Southern League All-Star earlier this month. 

This honor also comes as four big league players (Matt Olson, Ronald Acuña Jr., Drake Baldwin and Chris Sale) were named finalists for the All-MLB Team.

A notable missing Braves prospect from either the First Team or the Second Team is JR Ritchie. He was the starting pitcher in the All-Star Futures Game and rose to be a top-100 prospect. Baseball America also named Ritchie their Braves minor league player of the year. 

Other teams had multiple prospects named to both teams, so he’s an odd option to leave out. With both pitchers being named to the Futures Game together and both working their way up in the pipeline together this season, it would have been a fitting honor for both of them.

However, there is at least one prospect for the Braves to celebrate receiving the honor, and perhaps both can celebrate being part of the Major League roster come next season if all lines up in their favor. 

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