Braves hope outfielder's return sparks offensive turnaround

The Braves announced Wednesday that outfielder Michael Harris II had been reinstated from the 60-day injured list, as was expected. Outfielder Eli White was optioned to Triple-A to open an active roster spot, while right-hander Parker Dunshee was designated for assignment in a corresponding 40-man move.

Dunshee, 29, just had his contract selected last week, his first time on a big league roster in his career. In Thursday’s game, Charlie Morton had a rough outing, allowing eight earned runs in 2 2/3 innings. Dunshee was sent in for some mop-up duty and ate up 2 1/3 innings but allowed five earned runs. He was optioned to the minors the next day, meaning he’s currently sitting on an unsightly 19.29 earned run average in his brief MLB career.

The trade deadline has now passed, so Atlanta will be putting Dunshee on waivers sometime in the coming days. Perhaps some clubs will be intrigued by his solid results in recent years, major league debut notwithstanding. Dating back to the start of 2023, he has thrown 112 minor-league innings with a 2.81 ERA. His 10.3% walk rate in that time is a bit on the high side but he struck out 29.4% of batters faced. He has a full slate of options and essentially no service time.

Oakland drafted him, and he was a notable starting pitching prospect a few years ago, but his results tailed off when he hit the upper levels of the minors. He’s been in more of a relief role recently, which seems to have led to better numbers and could perhaps lead to an upcoming waiver claim.

Atlanta hopes Harris's return is the spark that incites a turnaround. They have been dropping in the standings throughout the summer and are currently 63-56. That puts them four games back of the Padres and Diamondbacks, tied for the top two wild-card spots in the National League. Atlanta still has the final spot, but the Mets are just two games back, and several other clubs are within striking distance.

Much of Atlanta’s struggles have been related to injuries. Ronald Acuña Jr. is out for the year after yet another ACL tear, this time in his left knee. Ozzie Albies has been out of action for about a month due to a left wrist fracture and Harris has missed two months due to a strained left hamstring. That’s on top of several notable injuries to the pitching staff.

All that has led the club to turn to veteran fill-ins like Whit Merrifield, Ramón Laureano, Eddie Rosario and Adam Duvall. The first two have been passable this year, but the other two have struggled significantly. Rosario has already been released, but Duvall is still clinging to his roster spot despite a .178/.240/.315 batting line. Among big league players with at least 300 plate appearances this year, Rosario is the only one with a worse wRC+ than Duvall’s 53.

Though Duvall is still holding onto his roster spot, Harris should be able to upgrade the team simply by taking his playing time. Harris struggled before landing on the IL, having hit .250/.295/.358 for a wRC+ of 80. But he was hitting .295/.334/.494 for a 124 wRC+ coming into the year, and even the slumping version of Harris would still be far more substantial than Duvall’s season so far.