ATLANTA — When Michael Harris II was called up to the majors May 28, with only 43 games played above Class A, it didn’t take long for the Braves to realize — or have confirmed — a few things about him: His defense was exceptional by any standard, he was mature beyond his years, and he needed to make a swing adjustment.

Two weeks into his big-league career, Harris, 21, the youngest player in the majors, has surpassed expectations, and one reason is how quickly he made that adjustment.

After going 2-for-13 with two singles and four strikeouts in his first four games, he has hit .353 (12-for-34) with four doubles and a triple in his past nine games. That coincides with the Braves’ nine-game winning streak, which began June 1. That’s moved them to a season-high five games over .500 (32-27).

#Braves get a strong start from Spencer Strider, more solid bulpen work in a 4-2 win against Pirates to stretch their winning streak to nine games. It's their longest since a nine-gamer last August. They're a season-high five games over .500 (32-27).

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) June 11, 2022

Harris, batting ninth, had a single, walk and double in his first three plate appearances Friday night in a 4-2 win against the Pirates, which gave the center fielder his fourth multihit game in the past eight.

He also got his first stolen base in the second inning, two batters before Dansby Swanson’s homer staked rookie starter Spencer Strider to a 2-0 lead. In his third start, Strider allowed two hits through the first five innings, finishing with a career-high 5 2/3 innings, four hits and one walk with eight strikeouts.

“With his speed and everything, (Harris) is perfect down there (in the ninth spot) — just because of that, just getting on base for the top of the order,” said Braves manager Brian Snitker, who likes having what amounts to two leadoff hitters back to back with Harris and No. 1 hitter Ronald Acuña Jr. “(Harris) has been hanging in there and doing really, really well. It’s been pretty impressive how he’s adjusted and what he’s done — with his legs, his glove, his arm, the whole thing.”

With regard to the adjustment at the plate, hitting coach Kevin Seitzer said Harris took to it right away.

“We made an adjustment real quick with lowering his hands,” Seitzer said. “Because he was up high, and then in the game he’d get higher, and he’d twist and turn and wrap (the bat behind him), and then get real steep to the ball. I mean, he had no chance.”

After Harris’ first few games, Seitzer approached him about the change while the Braves were at Arizona. Seitzer had talked with Greg Walker, a roving Braves minor-league instructor and former hitting coach with Atlanta and the Chicago White Sox.

“Because he knows (Harris) really well,” Seitzer said. “I just said, ‘Look, Walk, you’ve done this for a long, long time, and you know as a big-league hitting coach when kids come up, you’ve got to give them some space and let them play before you started tinkering with stuff.’ But I said, ‘You know where he’s at.’ Walk saw it right before he got called up, that he was getting to a bad spot. And so he goes, ‘This kid can handle it, you’re not going to overwhelm him.’ He goes, ‘I wouldn’t wait, I’d do it now.’

“And I walked right into the clubhouse and talked to Michael. He’s very regimented with his routine, and I said, ‘When you’re really good in the cage and really good in batting practice, but it ain’t happening in the game, we’ve got to adjust something. So let’s adjust your routine, do some different drills, see what happens.’”

The adjustment was to have Harris lower his hands, bringing them to a position Seitzer recalled being used by one of his and Walker’s contemporaries, slugger Eric Davis.

“We kind of overexaggerated putting his hands down like Eric Davis, so that when he kicked up, it would not be as far, that he could have time to get (to the ball),” Seitzer said. “And we just did drill work. (Harris) is such a good athlete, and he took to it real quick. So I said, ‘Let’s get on the (pitching) machine, get some velo, see what happens.’ And he freaking loved it.

“He goes, ‘I’m taking it into the game.’ And I said, ‘OK, are you sure you want to do this?’ He just said he’d never hit in his whole life with his hands low, and he couldn’t believe how good it felt. So he took it (into games), and he’s been having better at-bats ever since.”

The left-handed-hitting Harris has struck out more than once in just one of 13 games. That happened in his fourth game. Since then, he’s had seven K’s in nine games.

Meanwhile, the Atlanta native’s defense has been elite. He was tied for 14th among all major-league outfielders in Statcast’s outs above average (OAA) with three before Friday, despite the fact that most of those above him have played at least three or four times as many games as Harris.

His 10 percent “success rate added” within that OAA state was tied with Bryce Harper for second highest among outfielders before Friday. It meant that on balls hit to him, Harris had made 10 percent more catches than an average outfielder would make.

“I respect him a lot,” veteran Braves outfielder Guillermo Heredia said through an interpreter. “I think he’s going to be a great center fielder. He’s a great kid, extremely talented, really good person. And I think he’s showcased a little bit of what he’s capable of and handled himself like a veteran.”

The Braves thought they might initially rest him against some lefty pitchers, but Harris has better stats against them than against right-handers, going 6-for-18 (.333) against lefties with three doubles, a triple and five RBIs.

“Real impressed,” Seitzer said. “His strike-zone recognition has been really good. His left-on-left at-bats have been really good — that’s probably impressed me the most, his takes on left-on-left sliders, chase pitches. He’s been having good at-bats (against lefties). So Snit’s been rolling with him. I mean, the defense is just such a huge plus out there, my gosh.”

Seitzer praised Harris for how well he comports himself.

“Very coachable,” he said. “Great kid. Walk said, ‘I’ve never said this about another player, but he reminds me of Harold Baines. Just a professional, even keel, unfazed, no situation’s too big.’ They said last year he was in, like, an 0-for-31 (slump), and Walk goes, ‘You never knew it. He’s the same kid every day, showed up at the park and played hard.’”

When the Braves moved the flamethrowing Strider from the bullpen to the rotation nearly two weeks ago, they did so hoping he could give them a lot more in the fifth rotation spot than several others who had cycled through it this season.

He’s done that, pitching to a 2.57 ERA in three starts with 20 strikeouts and eight walks in 14 innings. He’s allowed 10 hits and six runs, only four of which were earned.

“I just want to get quick outs,” said Strider, who takes a different approach as a starter, looking to be more efficient than he was as a reliever, when his 37 strikeouts were the most in major-league history by any pitcher in his first 13 appearances when those were all out of the bullpen.

“Strikeouts are going to be there. My stuff’s gonna play; I don’t even worry about that,” he said. “There were some two-strike counts (Friday) where we struggled to put guys away. And a couple of two-out at-bats where I fell behind, that kind of stuff. If you want to be economical, you’ve got to save pitches there. So that’s the kind of stuff — if those are my biggest takeaways, my biggest problems going into my next (start), I’m really happy with that.

“I would have loved to have saved some more arms tonight, gone a little further if I could have, but Arm Barn did a great job again.”

Arm Barn is the nickname for this year’s bullpen, which entered Friday with a National League-best 3.07 ERA.

“Took the next step to getting to where we want him to be,” Snitker said after Strider reduced his walks from five in four innings Saturday at Colorado. “Looked like he made some adjustments, learned a little something from the last one. Very impressive. The whole thing was really good.

“That’s what we had talked about when we decided to run him out there in that (fifth spot), to kind of solidify that spot. And he has. He’s done an unbelievable job.”

Strider credited discussions with Swanson and Braves ace Max Fried with helping him settle in and figure some things out quicker than he otherwise might have. He particularly noted a discussion with Swanson after the Colorado start, when the shortstop told him he needed to simplify things as a starter.

In his unique and hilarious way, he also lauded a spectacular barehanded play Swanson made for the third out of the third inning Friday.

“Dansby, when he made that play – whew, I had some flutters, for sure,” Strider said, smiling. “I see what the women see in him. Whew. That got me fired up. Dansby’s the man. It’s been really cool the way he’s sort of taken me and, as a position player, a shortstop — he and Max, the two of them have just been so big for me. I really value the time that they’re willing to give to me.”

(Photo of Michael Harris II after he hit a double Friday: Brett Davis / USA Today)