The Wildcard: How Austin Riley can make or break the Atlanta Braves season

Defense Wins Championships

Last season, with Josh Donaldson manning the hot corner, Riley really did not get much of a chance to show the Braves that he could pick it at the position. When he did get a chance to play third, I didn’t really see any issues with his play.

However, I don’t think he is as good defensively as Donaldson was or even as good as Camargo at the position. In the same Fangraphs article, the same writer I mentioned above (Eric) had some thoughts about Riley’s defense circa 2016.

"“But at just 19, with some general stiffness to his actions, Riley is pretty likely to kick over to first base as he matures. The adjustments he made last year were encouraging, but reports from late in the year indicate some vulnerability on the outer half, and it’s going to be difficult for him to clear the offensive bar at first base with his current contact profile.”"

Clearly, he has made a decent amount of progress at the position to have made it this far. Just a season later, a different writer (in the same FanGraphs article referenced above), Kiley McDaniel, gave his thoughts on Riley after the 2017-2018 offseason.

"“Riley has slimmed down and has a chance to stick at third base now, but his easy plus raw power and improving contact ability will play anywhere on the diamond, possibly as soon as this September in the big leagues.”"

In a very small 38 inning sample size at third, he had a 1.000 fielding percentage in 13 tries with no errors. I really can’t draw much out of that, but the eye test tells me that he will at least be an average fielder as a full-time third baseman.

If he can just be average at the position while hitting at a similar rate to his early-season success in 2019, he would be a difference-maker for the Braves in 2020, just like he was in May and June.