{"id":658289,"date":"2026-04-02T07:17:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T07:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/658289\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T07:17:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T07:17:29","slug":"braves-series-win-over-athletics-gives-michael-harris-ii-last-laugh-over-close-friend-lawrence-butler-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/658289\/","title":{"rendered":"Braves\u2019 series win over Athletics gives Michael Harris II last laugh over close friend Lawrence Butler"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA – Outfielders Michael Harris II and Lawrence Butler have known each other for over three-fourths of their lives.<\/p>\n

Harris, the center fielder for the Atlanta Braves, and Butler, an outfielder for the Athletics, grew up playing baseball together in Atlanta. According to Harris<\/a>, they first faced off at just 5 or 6 years old. They continued to play alongside each other through high school \u2014 Harris at Stockbridge High School and Butler at Westlake \u2014 and also teamed up for summer ball in the Marquis Grissom Baseball Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So naturally, there was friendly banter between the two when the Athletics came to town for a three-game series against the Braves on Monday. It was Butler\u2019s first time as a major leaguer playing in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

Prior to Monday\u2019s game, Harris told Atlanta News First<\/a> that the trash talk would be constant whenever Butler stepped up to the plate. He added that he\u2019d be ready to track down anything Butler hit his way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always fun to battle guys that you grew up with and workout with in the offseason,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

Butler\u2019s dream of playing in Atlanta nearly came true in late May\/early June 2024, when the Athletics were in town. But he was optioned to Triple-A shortly before the series.<\/p>\n

But nearly two years later, on Monday, that dream finally became reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a kid, you always dream of playing for the home team,\u201d Butler told BravesVision<\/a>. \u201cFor me to just be out there, just roamin\u2019 around, just getting a hit, running the bases … just being home, it was a pretty cool moment. One that I\u2019ll never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butler finished the series 1-for-7 with a walk, while Harris went 1-for-12.<\/p>\n

Despite the quiet stat lines, the reunion meant more than what showed up in the box score.<\/p>\n

For now, the two will go their separate ways. With the Braves and Athletics in different leagues, Harris and Butler only meet once a year. The Athletics\u2019 next trip to Truist Park won\u2019t come until 2028.<\/p>\n

But even when they\u2019re on opposite sides, their friendship \u2014 and the trash talk \u2014 isn\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WANF. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA – Outfielders Michael Harris II and Lawrence Butler have known each other for over three-fourths of their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2394],"tags":[963,537,27977,191,46,13243,4206,4166,5,192,83749,19637,84009,4810,84011,661,84008,84010,23333,4,63,5217,2071],"class_list":{"0":"post-658289","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-braves","8":"tag-as","9":"tag-athletics","10":"tag-athletics-news","11":"tag-atlanta","12":"tag-atlanta-braves","13":"tag-atlanta-news-first","14":"tag-atlanta-braves-news","15":"tag-atlantabraves","16":"tag-baseball","17":"tag-braves","18":"tag-braves-athletics","19":"tag-braves-news","20":"tag-butler-as","21":"tag-lawrence-butler","22":"tag-lawrence-butler-stats","23":"tag-michael-harris-ii","24":"tag-michael-harris-ii-lawrence-butler","25":"tag-michael-harris-ii-lawrence-butler-friends","26":"tag-michael-harris-ii-stats","27":"tag-mlb","28":"tag-oakland-athletics","29":"tag-sacramento","30":"tag-truist-park"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116333894180847800","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}