Defying the Odds: Hayden Harris’ Road from Undrafted to Futures Game 

When he first joined the Atlanta Braves organization, Hayden Harris was far from heralded as a top prospect.

The Augusta, Georgia native had just spent five seasons in the bullpen at Georgia Southern University. After not hearing his named called during the 20 rounds of the 2022 MLB Draft, Harris took an unconventional approach to find a professional opportunity.

He turned to LinkedIn.

Already connected with several scouts on the platform, Harris reached out to Alan Butts, the Braves’ area scout in Georgia. At the time, the left-hander was pitching with the Frederick Keys in the MLB Draft League.

The pitch to Butts worked, and the Braves signed Harris in July of 2022. Since then, he has pitched his way through every level of the Atlanta minor league system.

Last year, Harris got one step closer to reaching his goal of playing in the big leagues when he received a promotion to Triple-A, but his first stint with Gwinnett didn’t go as planned.

From his call-up date on June 25 through the end of the season, he finished with a 7.36 ERA in his 22 appearances for the Stripers.

Harris called his debut stint with Gwinnett a learning experience as he got to see how some of the veterans on the team handled themselves on a daily basis.

“I learned a lot from the veteran guys that have been around,” Harris said. “Even just watching, not even talking, like Ken Giles (former Stripers reliever and MLB veteran), how those kinds of guys go about every day, and their process helps to figure out my own process.”

He got busy in the offseason, not only working on improving his pitches on the field but building a more consistent routine off it.

“I worked on honing the secondary pitches, slider, what used to be a gyro and now it’s a sweeper and the splitter,” Harris said. “I really honed in on my high days and low days. Recovering better taking days where I need to take a day and figuring out a schedule that works for me to be able to bounce back and pitch while not being drained every day.”

The work put in over the winter months was put on full display during Harris’ start to the 2025 campaign with Double-A Columbus.

Included on the Clingstones’ inaugural roster, Harris shined in the bullpen as he posted a 4-0 record with a 0.79 ERA and three saves in his 18 appearances. The lefty struck out 37 batters across 22.2 innings of work.

“Being able to see results of an offseason where I invested in myself, some money and a lot of time and sacrifice a lot of holiday and family time was awesome,” Harris said. “Being able to see it pay off, feeling good going into Spring Training and carrying it over to start the season where I played in a new stadium.”

Harris’ early-season success earned him a second trip back to Gwinnett on June 10, and he saw better results compared to a year prior. He didn’t allow a single run through his first eight appearances (8.2 innings) with the Stripers, allowing just three hits while striking out nine.

“Thinking back to last year, I probably made it a little bigger than it was,” Harris said. “It’s still baseball, so I’m trying to keep the same routine and approach, enjoy the day-to-day things and avoid putting so much pressure on myself to be perfect.”

While Harris’ scoreless streak would end on July 8 at Indianapolis, that week was about to take a major turn for the better.

The Braves’ No. 29 prospect departed the series early, hopping on a flight back to Georgia to take part in the 2025 MLB All-Star Futures Game in Atlanta.

“I found out like two weeks before the roster came out, I got a call in the morning and I thought I was getting traded,” Harris said. “It was awesome. It was kind of out of left field, I appreciated the Braves and whoever made that decision for giving me the opportunity to go there, and I had a great time. Being in Atlanta representing the Braves, as the hometown guy it was pretty sick.”

Getting the chance to represent both the Stripers and the parent club in Atlanta at Truist Park meant the chance to be around some of the other top young players in the sport. Harris found it easy to get along with the rest of the clubhouse, all young players sharing the same goal.

“It was still guys being guys, just a lot of those dudes are pretty good at baseball, getting paid a lot of money out of the draft and are knocking on the doorsteps same as everyone else,” Harris said. “I got to meet some guys that I played with over the years like Jonah Tong is a really good buddy of mine, we played together in the MLB Draft League and now he’s with the Mets. Harry Ford [Seattle Mariners] who I worked out with in the off season. Got to see some guys that I hadn’t seen in a little bit and also joking around with new guys was dope.”

Also helping with the adjustment was not being the only member of the Braves organization to get an invitation.

Harris was joined by his manager in Gwinnett as Kanekoa Texeira was serving as the National League third base coach. Additionally, Braves’ No. 6 prospect JR Ritchie was set to be the starting pitcher for the NL representing Double-A Columbus.

“Me and Ritchie are buddies so seeing him get to start he enjoyed it,” Harris said. “Tex being Tex, he doesn’t change wherever he goes. Having a couple familiar faces when you're hanging around Tim Hudson and Chipper Jones was pretty cool.”

Texeira enjoyed getting the opportunity to watch Harris in that moment up close.

“I’ve had Hayden for quite some time,” Texeira said. “Just the person he is, an Atlanta kid, small school to pitch in front of his friends and family was a good moment for us.”

While Ritchie started the game off right with a scoreless first inning, Harris waited until there were two outs in the sixth inning for his time to arrive. With no one on and left-handed batter Josue Briceño (Detroit Tigers) in the box, he got his chance to run out of the Truist Park bullpen for the first time.

“I wasn’t really sped up or anything, I felt pretty good cause I had a couple days off,” Harris said. “Joking around with Peter Moylan and some of the other guys down there made it feel like a normal baseball game. It was sick pitching in Truist, was probably juiced up a little bit but it was in the right way just trying to have some fun.”

The at-bat went about as well as it could for Harris, ending with a fastball sitting on the top of the zone that was foul tipped for strike three to complete the inning and protect a 4-2 lead for the NL.

“It was dope being able to do your job,” Harris said. “Face the lefty and I punched him out how I was supposed to, just felt like a normal strikeout. Being able to look up and see my family was pretty sick and shaking Chipper’s hand was all awesome.”

The handshake indicated the end of the day for Harris as he was credited with a hold in the win.

The moment was well earned in the eyes of Texeira who has seen his lefty locked in all-season long.

“He’s had a good year, left-handed pitcher who’s had a heck of a story to get to Triple-A period,” Texeira said. “Props to him for working hard, getting his stuff all dialed in and attacking high level hitting. His work ethic and what he’s doing is a credit to him.”

Harris got his first taste of pitching at Truist Park and was able to do so while wearing the Stripers cap.

“It was awesome being able to wear the bass on the hat,” Harris said. “It matched with the jersey really well, so I enjoyed that, and I got to see and sign some stuff for some Gwinnett fans.”

Now having that first Truist Park experience as a player out of the way, it’s given Harris even more motivation to get back there. This time as a member of the Atlanta Braves.

“That’s the whole goal to make your debut and stay there,” Harris said. “Being able to get a taste and an opportunity to pitch in front of a crowd at Truist was a unique opportunity for someone who hasn’t debuted. It was awesome just to get a taste of it.”

Working his way up to this point after being undrafted, Harris was surrounded by top prospects and high draft picks of other organizations around baseball. He has always seen that it all goes out the window once you get the chance to take the field.

“The way I’ve always looked at it is guys get paid and have their draft number next to their name but once you get an opportunity to play you just gotta take advantage of it,” Harris said. “That’s always been my approach, and I try to carry that every day, the whole undrafted thing is just a reminder.”

Now the attention turns to the rest of the season as Harris aims to improve on hitting the strike zone at a more consistent rate in Gwinnett.

“When I go in, fill it up. I’d like to cut down on the walks a little bit and have a little more swing and miss with the slider or splitter,” Harris said. “Just taking it day by day, show up with something to work on every day and enjoy having baseball as a job because a lot of people don’t get to do that.”