PHILADELPHIA – Michael Harris II made a catch so spectacular on Saturday night that, had it happened in a postseason victory, it would have been hailed as one of the greatest catches in history.

Seriously, it was so good.

But the Atlanta Braves center fielder made the catch – the best of his young life so far – in a 3-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, who thereby extended their lead in the National League East to six games over the second-place Braves.

Max Fried pitched seven solid innings for the Braves, but Zack Wheeler pitched like the ace he is for the Phillies, limiting the Braves to four hits and no walks with seven strikeouts in seven innings. Atlanta’s best chance to score came on Matt Olson’s game-tying home run in the sixth inning, but it was caught by center fielder Johan Rojas.

Rojas made a beautiful catch. Harris made a catch for the ages.

Unfortunately, it was a season-ending loss that mattered, so there was no celebration in the locker room after the game for Harris’ highlight. But many teammates told him that his perfectly timed, leaping, spinning, acrobatic catch to rob Austin Hays of a potential seventh-inning home run was the best they’d ever seen.

One of the best catches you will ever see:@MoneyyyMikeee | #BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/H4GKg9N0dR

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) 1 September 2024

“Michael’s game was incredible,” Fried said. “I’ve never had a home run stolen while I was pitching. A couple of times it was close, but nothing to this extent. I mean, the way he slowed down to find the right time and did it all in one motion, that’s special. He’s incredible out there.”

“Probably the best catch I’ve ever made, for sure.”

The boys on the other side had a similar opinion about what they saw.

“Unbelievable,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “Harris’ catch is one of the best you’ll ever see in this game. I couldn’t believe he came up with that.”

Several longtime Phillies press box observers said it was the best catch they’d seen at Citizens Bank Park since it opened in 2004. The Phillies have seen Harris steal extra-base hits before, but never with quite this much difficulty.

In fact, no one had ever seen him catch that well. Harris confirmed this when the 23-year-old was asked how he would rate catching at all the levels he has played at, from childhood to MLB, the Atlanta native’s third season in the major leagues.

“I’d say (number) one,” he said, pausing for a moment to think about it. “Probably one. Yeah. Because I actually had to climb over the wall to get it, so probably one.”

He smiled and added, “I’ve had a few over the last few years that I wanted to bring back but couldn’t. It was nice to get this one and put it at the top of my list.”

Oh, he actually brought it back. His glove and arm were stretched over the fence before Harris’ body, bent at the waist over the fence padding, leapt back in a most athletic motion without ever losing his footing, raising his glove to show he was holding the ball.

Hays had rounded first base, and when he realized Harris had caught the ball, he smiled and threw his hands in the air.

“That was crazy,” said Phillies relief pitcher Jeff Hoffman, who was warming up in the bullpen behind right-center field and was closest to the play, maybe 10 yards away, when it happened. He was one of several relief pitchers who raised their hands in the air and/or were seen on the television replay muttering words of astonishment.

“We have this weird, random ability to hit the ball in the perfect spots to make plays like that,” Hoffman said. “It’s gotten boring. (He smiled.) But I mean, it’s so fun to watch guys that can do that. They bring that level of athleticism to our game. Because how often do you really get to show something like that in our game? That’s real athletic ability.”

“It was a great sight. I just wish he had missed it. I wish it had been six inches further away.”

Hoffman and most of the other Phillies relief pitchers saw the top half of Harris’ body stick out over the fence, and his momentum carried his arm with the ball over and down before pulling it back. The ball was in his glove, and the padding on the fence almost served as a springboard for him as Harris fell back with his feet on the warning track.

Hays hit a curveball on the outside edge of the plate with his first pitch, hitting it at 103 miles per hour in a high 37-degree arc just right of center. At first it looked like he was heading for the warning track, but the ball kept flying.

“I was running with the ball and then, I think a few steps before the wall, I glanced at it to see where I was,” said Harris, who slowed briefly before getting to the warning track and made sure he took the right steps as he approached the wall. “I was trying to find the perfect time to get up and hit it with the glove.”

The time the ball was in the air gave Harris time to gauge it as it bounced back, and he timed his jump perfectly. There is a relatively low fence in the middle, just six feet, and Harris, a left-handed hitter, looked over his right shoulder as he ran toward it, tracking the ball the entire time, even as it took off.

He reached out with his left hand to steady himself before impact, extended his right arm and glove over the padded top of the fence and grabbed the ball, pulling it back from its downward trajectory – to the surprise of the Phillies relief pitchers who had the best view in the sold-out stadium.

Harris was asked how it felt when he realized he had caught and held onto the ball.

“At first, it was one of those feelings like when you’re batting and you don’t feel (a home run) right away,” he said. “It hit the net perfectly, and when I came back from the fence, I saw the Phillies pitchers in awe. That’s when I really knew I caught it. So it was pretty cool to make that catch and then (also) have some Phillies fans, even though we’re rivals, tip their hats to me and applaud.

“It didn’t really sink in until I saw their faces (the substitutes). I knew I had touched it, and then when I squeezed it and felt a certain weight in it, I knew it was in there.”

Brian Snitker has seen many great outfielders in his 4 1/2 decades as a coach and manager in the minor league system and with the Braves’ major league team. He knows when he sees something special, a game from someone who has a gift few others have.

“It’s feel and God-given stuff that those types of players have, quite honestly,” Snitker said of Harris’ catch. “It’s not something you work on; it’s not something you teach. It’s a God-given ability to do that, instinct and all that stuff. He helped us win a game in Minnesota (last week) with a play like that, coming off the bench and probably making a game-winning play at the time. He’s must-see TV, I can tell you that.”

(Photo: Nick Wosika / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)