The Braves, one of the few Major League teams to publicly disclose the terms of their contracts, added that Harris will earn $5 million per season in 2023-24, $8 million annually in 2025-26, $9 million in 2027 , $10 million per year from 2028-29 and $12 million in 2030. The 2031 option is valued at $15 million and the 2032 option is valued at $20 million. Both come with $5 million in buyouts. Harris, a front-runner to finish in the top two spots in National League Rookie of the Year voting — perhaps along with teammate Spencer Strider — would be a free agent after either 2027 (when the top two Rookies of the Year finish) either after the 2028 season, but will forego a trip to the open market in his mid-20s to sign a long-term pact with his hometown team. The eight-year deal continues an aggressive trend by an Atlanta front office that hasn’t been afraid to pay its young stars big early in their careers. Outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. (eight years, $100MM) and second baseman Ozzie Albies (seven years, $35MM) both signed early, very club-friendly extensions that included a pair of club options beyond their guaranteed years. Acuna’s deal, like the one discussed with Harris, was agreed to before he even completed a full year of Major League service. Most recently, the Braves signed Matt Olson to an eight-year, $168MM extension the day after acquiring him in a five-player blockbuster with the A’s. And, this past summer, while so many teams were focused on the trade deadline at the end of July, the Braves inked a ten-year, $212 million extension for third baseman Austin Riley (before making a handful of trades themselves, of course). The 21-year-old Harris was the No. 98 overall pick in the 2019 draft and boosted his prospect stock with a torrid run in the minors that ended up bypassing Triple-A entirely earlier this year. Despite being promoted directly from Double-A, Harris has not lost a single loss in the Majors. He has logged 268 plate appearances in the Majors, including tonight’s appearance, and has hit a solid .287/.325/.500 line with twelve homers, 14 doubles, two triples and 13 steals (in 13 attempts). Combine that production with plus centerfield defense (5 defensive runs saved and an above-average strikeout) and it’s easy to see how the Braves quickly fell in love with the dynamic young outfielder. As with any extension for a young player, there is definitely some risk involved for both sides. Harris has only 71 games of big league experience, not to mention Triple-A seasoning. In fact, he only played 43 games in Double-A before his promotion. And, as good as he has been so far in his big league career, the Braves would certainly like to see him improve with a dismal 3.7% walk rate. He currently has a .345 average on balls in play that will likely drop a bit, though players with Harris’ type of speed (94th percentile sprint speed, per Statcast) can often maintain BABIP numbers higher than league average . The risk for Harris, meanwhile, is the same that teammates like Acuna and Albies took when they took their own deals. He’s locking up a life-changing amount of money, sure, but a top-two finish in Rookie of the Year voting would put Harris in arbitration orbit after the 2024 season (or, absent a top-two finish, after 2025 campaign). As it stands, he could either be a free agent after the 2027 season, entering the age-27 season, or he could go through the 2028 campaign (when he would go into his age-28 season). Free agents that young are the ones who tend to sign decades-long contracts north of $200MM or even $300MM. Of course, we can’t know if Harris will maintain his current pace for a full six years. We see players debut to great fanfare and fade from the spotlight somewhat regularly, and injuries can always affect a player’s development and earning power on the open market. Harris certainly knows that any early-career extension like this has the potential to turn into an unrestricted deal for the team, just as the Braves know that Harris isn’t necessarily a lock to establish himself among the game’s elite young outfielders. That’s the balance all teams and players try to strike in early extensions like this, and it looks like in this case, the Braves and Harris have found a sweet spot that will be much less than the Acuna deal. While these contracts tend to be significant bargains when they come — as they almost universally have for the Braves at this point — it’s also worth noting that they inflate a team’s luxury tax ledger sooner than it would otherwise. . A $72 million contract for Harris will immediately give him a luxury hit of $9 million (the average annual value of the contract) when he would otherwise have accounted for less than $1 million on the tax line. Atlanta has a $207 million payroll this year, and $128 million is already on the books next year, and that’s before including a Harris contract or arbitration raises for any of Max Fried, AJ Minter, Mike Soroka or Tyler Matzek ( plus any free agent or trade additions this winter). Extensions are still likely to be financial moves for the team in the long run, but the Braves will have roughly $50 million in luxury commitments with just Acuna, Albies, Riley and Harris next season if this deal does go through. None of this should serve as a deterrent, of course. Harris looks the part of a budding young star, and pairing him alongside Acuna in the outfield and alongside Acuna, Riley and Albies in the lineup for the foreseeable future gives the Braves the look of an explosive quartet that is controlled at a mere fraction of the market value. The reduced nature of their payroll — relative to market pricing — should allow the team to continue investing in free agents to fill out the bullpen, keeping the Braves in good position to compete in the National League East for the immediate future. future. The fact that Harris grew up in the Atlanta area and attended high school just 37 miles south of Truist Park makes him even more marketable to fans and certainly makes tonight’s deal sweeter for Atlanta’s newest homegrown star. FanSided’s Robert Murray first reported that the two sides were “deep” in talks over an eight-year deal. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported that the contract would contain at least one option and be valued at $72 million ( Twitter links ).
