Robbed of an All-Star nod, Michael Harris II is playing with something to prove

The Braves are beginning to earn back the trust of the entire Southeast with their performances to start the second half. Over the weekend against the Rangers, it was the offense that carried the group. On Monday, to kick off the week against the Padres, the pitching staff held it down — and did so severely short-handed, with a struggling Bryce Elder toeing the rubber to start.

Elder was making just his second start of July. He’d been rested to work through some mid-season fatigue, which may have contributed to some less-than-stellar results. He entered the night with an 8.47 ERA over his previous seven starts, having allowed ten home runs over that stretch. But Monday looked a lot more like the guy who was pitching like a legitimate Cy Young candidate over the first two months of the year, allowing just two earned runs on five hits with four strikeouts over six innings.

It was enough to give the Braves the lead, thanks to home runs from Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II — two guys in the middle of outstanding bounce-back campaigns after forgettable 2025 seasons, fresh off representing Atlanta in the All-Star Game.

Well, at least Albies did. It’s still a complete and utter shame that Michael Harris II wasn’t given an All-Star nod. He had better numbers than at least one of the National League’s starters, and plenty of the reserves. The All-Star Game has very little credibility these days, and you’d think, since the game means absolutely nothing, Major League Baseball would make things right and ensure snubs like this don’t happen. Who cares if there are a few extra guys on each roster?

Robbing Harris of that experience is criminal, but he seems to be taking it the right way — on a war path to begin the second half. He’s hit safely in all four games, with three multi-hit games and a couple of home runs. Ever since he made adjustments to his swing around this time last year, he’s become one of the best all-around outfielders in the game, and eventually he’s going to get recognized properly for it.

But as good as Elder, Albies, and Harris were, the performance of the night might have come from Victor Mederos. In a one-run game with a severely depleted bullpen, Walt Weiss turned to him for the final 2.1 innings, and he delivered with a near-flawless outing. It capped off a pretty damn good week for the 25-year-old, who’s had only a few cups of coffee in the majors over his career — one in which he became the first pitcher to record a hit since 2021 and picked up his first save.

On Tuesday, the Braves will look to make it back-to-back series wins as Reynaldo Lopez faces off against Walker Buehler.

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Photo: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire