Braves reliever Hayden Harris prepared for ‘whatever they ask you to do’

“You have the ability to slow the game down in an inning that’s a grind?” Braves manager Walt Weiss about the way Harris was able to stay composed.

“What’s the body language look like, with younger kids especially? Started getting some traffic, but how do you handle that?”

Harris made his MLB debut in September when he threw a scoreless inning in Chicago against the Cubs. It was one of three outings in 2025 for the soon-to-be 27-year-old, who is a long shot to make the Braves roster when camp breaks in March but not a long shot to rejoin the club sometime later in 2026.

“If you look at the logical aspect of it: reliever, three years of options, I’m probably not staying up all year,” Harris said Sunday at CoolToday Park. “You just prepare for whatever they ask you to do, and you have your own personal plan to try to get better throughout the season and just stick to that.”

Saturday, Harris threw 24 pitches, 18 of which were fastballs. But he also mixed in a sweeper. He struck out the Rays’ Dominic Keegan and Ryan Vilade on fastballs that didn’t reach 92 mph.

Which is fine, because fireballs aren’t Harris’ forte, anyway. His three-quarter arm angle and flick of the left wrist make for an unconventional delivery.

“There’s some funk, and when you do something unique, it makes it tough because players don’t see it all the time. In this case, the hitters don’t see it all the time,” Weiss said. “It’s a different slot, but it’s a fastball that’s always gonna play up. He’s one of the guys you don’t really have to check the velocity. You know the fastball is gonna play up.

“And he’s had a lot of success in the minor leagues. Everybody earns everything they get in this game, and he certainly has earned it.”

Harris is a Grovetown High School graduate who pitched for Georgia Southern for five seasons. When his college baseball career was over, he turned to LinkedIn to try to get his foot in the door of professional baseball — as a player or even in an off-the-field role.

Being invited to Braves spring training in 2024 and then being called up in 2025 was undoubtedly a thrill for Harris, who said he was way more nervous warming up in the bullpen that day in Chicago then when he actually took the mound.

The warm fuzzies of being in The Show, however, have long since faded, said Harris.

“I’m just sticking to the plan of every day just do the same game, whether it’s pitching the big leagues, Triple-A, whatever, you gotta treat it like everything else. Doesn’t matter if it’s 40,000 (fans) or 400 in the crowd,” he added. “I think a big focus was the recovery aspect of it. Gotta go out there with what you got and what will give yourself the most every day.”