It's Harris, by a hair! ... or is it? Braves-A's rivalry, legend grow

NORTH PORT, Fla. -- Braves center fielder Michael Harris II heard A’s outfielder Lawrence Butler's rebuttal and supplied video showing what he believes is proof that he is the faster of the two Atlanta-raised big leaguers.

“I slowed the video down,” Harris said. “I was actually in front of him when I got to the final cone or whatever.”

Before racing too far into this story, this "Who is faster?” debate is the extension of a friendly rivalry that began nearly 20 years ago, when Harris and Butler began playing baseball in the Atlanta area. They spent their teenage years as teammates on Marquis Grissom’s travel teams and since joining the professional ranks, they have continued to work out together in the winter.

Harris, Butler and Rays speedy prospect Chandler Simpson finished neck-and-neck when they raced against each other at Grissom’s house during the offseason. This led the Braves outfielder to quickly say “of course” when asked if he was faster than the A’s outfielder.

Butler saw things differently.

“If you slow it down and pause it, my head is in front of [Harris] and Chandler,” Butler said. “I slipped and still won. … I’m not going to be the one to put the video out there, because I don’t want to embarrass [anybody]. But if the people ask for it, they will see.”

Well, we asked, and Harris let us see:

Harris is located third from the right, wearing a black hoodie. Butler is wearing a white shirt and winter hat. Simpson is wearing the baby blue shirt.

“Butler had a long beanie on that really gave him an advantage,” Harris said.

It’s hard to determine a clear-cut winner when watching the race video at normal speed. So, here’s the slo-mo look that Harris thinks shows him winning:

“He’s just saying that because the camera was in his face and he didn’t want to make himself look bad,” Butler said. “I’m faster than him.”

Along with the hat providing an advantage, Harris pointed out that Butler also started in a straighter sprint position, while the others were in more of a “stolen-base” stance.

“[Butler] knows he’s not faster,” Harris said. “I guess we’ll see this year who gets more stolen bases.”

This race’s most impressive development might be that Harris and Butler were right there with Simpson, who is one of the game’s fastest players. Butler says the Reds’ Elly De La Cruz might be the only player who can compete with Simpson’s speed.

But ...

“[Simpson] is supposed to be the fastest, but if he lost to me, he can’t say he’s the fastest, right?” Harris said.

Their respective teams aren’t going to allow Harris and Butler to risk a hamstring strain or some other injury while racing each other when the Braves visit the A's from July 8-10. But the two friends have already created a competition for that three-game series.

“I already told him he’s not getting a hit when we come there,” Harris said.