ATLANTA-- Center fielder Michael Harris II can return from the injured listing next week, at which aim the Braves are most likely to move early season surprise Sam Hilliard from center to limbo of what has the potential to be the most effective protective outfield in the majors. " It does not get any kind of better" than that trio would certainly be defensively, stated Hall of Famer Chipper Jones, a Braves striking consultant as well as previous third baseman that also played virtually 400 video games in left field midway with his would certainly be the very first to claim he really did not play outfield protection at almost the level of Harris or Ronald Acua Jr. , or how Hilliard has played it for 17 video games this season, consisting of 12 begins in center considering that Harris went on the 10-day hurt listing on April 7 with a back stress. Harris will certainly start an injury-rehab project with Triple-A Gwinnett on , also, would certainly never ever be discussed in the very same sentence as Jones as a hitter-- except in a sentence such as this-- yet what he's done given that springtime is a pointer of why he was a top Rockies possibility a couple of years earlier. It likewise explains why Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos traded for him in is hitting. 327 with three residence runs, 4 swiped bases and also a. 992 OPS, consisting of 2 homers in Monday's 11-0 rout of the Marlins-- the Spencer Strider game-- as well as an RBI solitary in a three-run 4th inning Tuesday when the Braves damaged it open en course to a 7-4 win versus Albies had two crowning achievement Tuesday-- he has a team-high seven, consisting of five in 9 video games-- as well as Eddie Rosario homered for the second day in a row. The Braves relocated to 100 games over. 500 all-time versus the Marlins, improving to 301-201, and also did it on the 5th anniversary of Acua's big-time a doubled on the very first pitch of the video game, mosted likely to third on his majors-leading 13th swiped base, as well as racked up on an Austin Riley solitary. Acua had 2 hits as well as rankings 2nd in the majors with a. 364 standard, including an impressive 14-for-22. 636) with five increases as well as a homer leading off the very first Tuesday, Hilliard placed 11th in the majors in OPS among those with 45 or even more at-bats. Not bad for a person who had to contend with numerous other prospects for a bench task on the Opening Day " Today, I seem like I'm just playing loose, playing complimentary," stated Hilliard, 29, who struck just. 212 with a. 717 OPS throughout parts of the previous four seasons with Colorado. "I'm obtaining the opportunity to play a little more. I think that's always practical for any kind of gamer. Simply to get the representatives, get in that rhythm. " Baseball is such a rhythm, momentum-based sport. Ty Blach Jersey.. When you're hot simply try to ride it out as long as you can, due to the fact that you recognize it's not mosting likely to last forever. " Braves fans have promptly fancied Hilliard, a 6-foot-5, 235-pound Texan that plays hard, strikes balls a lengthy means, and runs much faster as well as relocates more smoothly than may be expected of a gamer his size. In Monday's win, he had a swiped base to opt for two homers, the only Braves player to have a swipe and also homer or 2 homers) in the very same game this last week's two-city trip, Hilliard struck a 448-foot homer at Kansas City and made a marvelous catch to rob Manny Machado of a homer at San played well late last season after being optioned to Triple An as well as mosted likely to Braves camp determined to build on that momentum as well as preserve a much more athletic approach at home plate. He recognized he had ended up being rigid listening to many instructors attempting to help repair his the Braves, the advice as well as suggestions from striking trainer Kevin Seitzer, assistant hitting coach Bobby Magallanes and also Jones have assisted him add a couple of things without compromising that athleticism. " Of all the men, conserve Michael Harris, he is just one of the toolsier individuals that have come with here," Jones claimed. "He's 6-4, can run, with a really excellent arm. He was a bit upright and also rotational with his swing when he obtained here, as well as a lot like we've finished with a Matt Olson and even Austin) Riley, is simply get him to hinge a little bit at the hips as well as flex over a bit, so he remains on equilibrium and doesn't get as rotational. Altered his websites from right-center to left-center, and it's actually helped him. " AdvertisementJones thinks Hilliard has significant upside, and also decreasing strikeouts-- he has 21 in 49 at-bats-- will certainly be a crucial to sustained production. " I believe he is among those men like when Riley showed up, that we've got to obtain more contact out of him," Jones claimed. "As well as if we get even more call, you're visiting a whole lot of evenings like Monday). As well as to have those sort of tools coming off the-- well, in spring training he would have been coming off the bench, however he's played himself into some having fun time, even when a Mikey Harris comes back. We have actually simply reached stay on him since a whole lot of points that we've been performing with him are brand-new, and also on a day-to-day basis simply maintain grinding it into him. " Jones included a matter-of-fact tone, "When you're speaking about the capacity to strike the sphere out of the ballpark from nasty pole to nasty pole with some significant damages, that's an unique skill. " Hilliard had 42 crowning achievement in 2019 between the Rockies' Triple-An associate 35) as well as the majors 7), and also Braves manager Brian Snitker said he was not shocked when asked this week about that huge total amount. " With that said capability that he's got-- big, strong male like that-- yeah, I could see unlimited capacity in a bat like that," he claimed. "As long as they keep working, who cares when it is that it clicks or they figure things out? Because when they do, it's something really good. Still a great deal of season to go, however I sure like where he's at today. " Hilliard's two-homer video game Monday was his very first given that Sept. 18, 2019, his rookie period. The second was a sixth-inning tape-measure shot that left the bat at 114. 8 mph and also traveled an approximated 458 feet, the lengthiest and also hardest-hit round on a night when the Braves struck five homers. " And the round he struck in Kansas City-- those are spheres that he's been hooking as well as having a great deal of top-spin on previously)," Jones stated. "Since he has actually been rotational with his swing. As well as now that he's keeping his nose down in there as well as remaining via it to center field, you're beginning to see that carry. " AdvertisementThat profession for Hilliard, barely discovered at the time beyond baseball's internal circles, cost the Braves only a fringe pitching possibility, Dylan Spain. It brought a player that has actually looked like much more than a deepness item at the back of the roster. Hilliard will be novice arbitration-eligible following winter months, assuming he remains in the majors for much or every one of this period, as well as the Braves would certainly have three periods of contractual control prior to complimentary Rockies made Hilliard a 15th-round draft choice in 2015 out of Wichita State, where he pitched for one season in addition to playing first base and outfield. He had 30 as well as 37 swiped bases in his very first 2 minor-league seasons in 2016 as well as 2017, hitting. 300 with 21 homers and an. 847 OPS in the latter period in High a major-league newbie in 2019, he struck. 273 with 7 homers and a 1. 006 OPS in 27 video games, triggering this heading before the pandemic-shortened 2020 period on a New york city Post rotisserie article: "5 reasons that Mountain ranges' Sam Hilliard might be best fantasy baseball discover" That choice would not have exercised so well, as Hilliard struck. 210 with six homers and three swiped bases in 36 games. He divided each of the following 2 seasons between the majors and Three-way A, batting. 201 with 16 homers and a. 661 OPS in 151 ready the Rockies because period, consisting of just. 184 with two homers in 200 plate appearances last season. " I looked back at video clip of myself striking in 2015, in the middle of the year when I was really battling, and also I desired to throw up," Hilliard said. "It simply didn't look like me. I resembled, 'That is this individual?' I remained in a negative location, as well as I just decided if I was going to decrease, I was mosting likely to go down my means. I recognize I'm a great athlete, I'm mosting likely to go out there and also really feel like one. " Image of Hilliard: Brett Davis/ United States Today).