ATLANTA — A Stockbridge teen fulfilled every young baseball fan’s dream Tuesday night – he was drafted by the hometown team.
Stockbridge High’s Michael Harris was selected by the Braves with the 98th pick of the 2019 MLB Draft. Not many get taken that high, with more than a thousand picks made in baseball’s draft.
Harris called it a dream come true on Twitter.
“Beyond blessed to be a part of a program I grew up LOVING!!” he wrote. “Still hard to believe! Go Braves!! #ChopOn”
The Braves tweeted that Harris played in the Braves RBI youth baseball program growing up and has played before with the Marquis Grissom Baseball Association, named for the Georgia native and former Braves outfielder.
Harris was highly regarded after a senior season that saw him dominate both as an outfielder and a pitcher for the Stockbridge Tigers.
According to the school's MaxPreps stats page, he hit an eye-popping .432 with four home runs, four triples and seven doubles in 100 plate appearances this season. He was just as great on the mound, recording a 1.87 ERA in 10 appearances with 75 strikeouts in only 45 innings.
He led the Tigers to regional playoff qualifying and was named the state’s Class-AAAAA Player of the Year.
According to a report on the Braves’ website, the team sees him as an outfielder long-term.
An MLB scouting report says he “has an interesting swing and can hit for power.”
“We were very fortunate to get him. There were a lot of teams on him,” Dana Brown, the Braves vice president of scouting, told the team’s site.
The Braves will still have to sign the switch-hitter. Harris was set to play college ball for Texas Tech before the draft.
The typical signing bonus for where Harris was selected is about $600,000, though teams are not locked into that.
If he joins the Braves organization, he would likely start his career with one of the team’s Rookie-level affiliates this summer, either in Danville, Va. with the Danville Braves or in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. with the Gulf Coast League Braves.
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