We’ll probably find out tonight
A short one today, and one I already summarized in a comment on last night’s lineup, but now up for wider discussion, I guess.
Michael Harris II did not start last night, with a lefty on the hill for the Athletics. Harris is badly in need of a reset, though it’s unclear whether he is actually getting one. If he is getting one, then giving him another game off, after an off-day, en route to even more time off as he does whatever he needs to in order to mentally and physically return himself, as best he can, to whatever he was doing in 2024 and earlier, is great. Maybe that’s the case. If so, he shouldn’t be in the lineup tonight, either.
But, it’s also possible that the Braves have, for some reason, decided that platooning him is their path forward. That makes no sense to me, given, well, everything — they need to figure out how to get Harris back to being productive, not having him take advantage of the fact that there are at least 200 real-world, real-MLB competition PAs left in the season to get Eli White or Stuart Fairchild plate appearances and reps in center field seems… bad. Very bad. Losing the plot of arc that everything is about 2026, not 2025, at this point.
So, which is it?
Daily Notes
Record: 39-51
Yesterday’s wOBA and xwOBA: .233 / .316 (Season rank: 21st / 11th)
Yesterday’s opponent wOBA and xwOBA: .472 / .385 (Season rank: 15th / 11th)
Yesterday’s homers: 1
Yesterday’s homers allowed: 5
Record when out-xwOBAing: 28-18 (League: 997-362)
Record when out-xwOBAed: 11-33 (League: 356-988)
Record when out-wOBAing: 34-8 (League: 1,154-208)
Record when out-wOBAed: 5-43 (League: 208-1,154)
Record when outhomering: 21-8 (League: 752-209)
Record when outhomered: 6-27 (League: 209-752)