As Michael Harris II emerges from season-long slump, what does it mean?

And with that, Harris’ prolonged wandering at the plate apparently has come to a merciful end. His production spike peaked with his being named the National League Player of the Week on Monday after hitting .478 (11-for-23) with two home runs, two doubles, two triples and a walk over six games.

In Saturday’s 6-5 loss at Texas, Harris nearly hit for the cycle. Needing a single in his final at-bat, he tripled instead, which did gain him entrée into a far more exclusive circle — he became the ninth player in MLB since 1900, and the first Brave, to hit a home run, a double and two triples in a single game.

“We all know he’s a talented player, and that’s just baseball, right?” Ronald Acuña Jr. said Monday through team interpreter Franco García. “Sometimes we go through our highs and then we go through our lows, too, but credit to him for making those adjustments.”

Credit indeed to Harris, the Stockbridge High grad and the 2022 NL Rookie of the Year. After being arguably the least effective regularly playing batter in the majors through mid-July, Harris finally is producing.

It stirs good feelings to see Harris’ efforts rewarded. He’s a joyful and hardworking player with no shortage of fans. It speaks to his professionalism that, even as he struggled at the plate, he continued to be one of the game’s premier defensive center fielders.

“It’s good to see work paying off,” Harris said. “I feel like it’s long overdue. Obviously, wanted this to happen sooner, but really grateful that I was able to put in the work and it’s starting to show now.”

And that’s the rub in this July revival. It would have been helpful if this had happened earlier, specifically before the Braves fell out of the postseason chase. Harris’ ineffectiveness at the plate is hardly the only contributing factor to this lost season, but it certainly has its place.

Could this have happened sooner?

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Before the team’s series-opening win at Kansas City on Monday, manager Brian Snitker said Harris began to come out of his slump in the series at St. Louis before the All-Star break.

“He finally started buying into some of the physical, mechanical things they wanted him to change, and it’s worked,” Snitker said.

Harris’ perspective on the adjustment was different as he spoke with the AJC after batting practice Monday in the early-evening heat at Kauffman Stadium. In the tunnel leading from the visiting dugout to the clubhouse, sweat dripped off him.

Harris related how uncomfortable it felt to return his hands to a higher position in his stance. When he tried it against the Athletics in the series before St. Louis, he said it felt weird, even though it wasn’t that pronounced a shift.

“It felt like I was probably touching a cloud, but it was really just above my shoulder,” he said.

But results started showing up in St. Louis, and he kept at it during the All-Star break. From the Cardinals series through Monday, he was hitting .367 (18-for-49). His season average to that point was .205, which was sixth lowest among qualified hitters.

During the home series versus the New York Yankees on July 19, he ended a streak of 178 consecutive plate appearances without a walk, the Braves’ longest such streak by a non-pitcher in the team’s Atlanta history. Harris celebrated his long-awaited base on balls with a modest bat flip.

I asked him if, after seeing results, he now wished he had been quicker to make the change encouraged by hitting coach Tim Hyers.

“Not necessarily because I didn’t know that was kind of what it had to come to,” he said. “I thought it was some other things maybe, or just bad luck and just not getting good swings out there. I guess, yeah, eventually I was glad to be able to figure something out and get something going.”

Should Harris’ recent play continue, his path this season would hew closely to the pattern of his career. Harris has had an OPS of .662 in the first halves of seasons and, through Monday, .881 in the second. Among players with at least 750 plate appearances in either half since 2022, Harris’ second-half OPS ranked 12th highest before Tuesday’s games, according to Stathead. Meanwhile, his first-half OPS was 25th lowest.

Further, his production has declined over the course of his career. By year, his OPS from his rookie year in 2022 through this season — .853, .808, .722, .613. It’s not the performance envisioned by the Braves when president of baseball operations and general manager Alex Anthopoulos signed him to an eight-year, $72 million extension in the midst of his standout rookie season.

We’re left to puzzle over what sort of future awaits the 24-year-old Harris.

It would seem to be too late for Harris’ turnaround to help save the Braves’ season. But, health permitting, he will further define who he is as a player over the next two months. And if he can apply the lessons of this experience next year and beyond, then there is yet something to be gained from this mess of a season.