Can Austin Riley Bounce Back for Atlanta Braves in 2020?

Austin Riley showed a month of brilliance last May for the Atlanta Braves before Major League pitchers exposed his weaknesses. Can he rebound during this shortened season?

Riley’s meteoric rise for the Atlanta Braves early in the 2019 campaign culminated in a turbulent tumble of massive proportions.

The rookie slugger, who was drafted by the Braves in 2015 and ascended through the minor league ranks with his powerful right-hand bat, transitioned from a May sensation to a young hitter marred in a prolific, season-long slump.

Riley decimated minor league pitching in 2019 during his short stint at Triple-A Gwinnett (.391 average, 13 home runs, and an astounding 1.518 OPS). It was a reflection of Riley’s minor league track record, where, in 1,788 at-bats, he hit .283/.348 with 86 home runs.

After, rather inconceivably, homering nine times in his first 18 games in the Majors, pitchers did what they do best.

They made adjustments. They exposed his weaknesses. The figured him out.

Riley suffered a similar fate most young hitters fall victim to – the thrill of burgeoning success followed by a dreadful streak where they fail to adapt and experience the pitfalls of enhanced pitch sequences, thorough scouting reports, and the intuition Major League pitchers possess when facing the greatest hitters on the planet.

For all of Riley’s majestic swings that first month or so of his Major League career, he was, to be rather frank, miserable the rest of the way.

His rising star simply descended back down to reality.

But all is not lost. And, let’s be honest, hitting a baseball at the highest level is no easy feat. If it were, I wouldn’t be crafting this article right now.

Rookie hitters – especially those prone to the power game – unfortunately fall into the trap of relying on the strengths that catapulted them through the minors.

Their talents ebb and flow. They try to find their footing. Many of them fail. Some make adjustments. Others flounder.

For all it’s worth, Riley has proven – albeit through just a short, burst of brilliance – to have the skill set needed to hit Major League pitching.

But it comes down to making modifications and constantly striving to improve on pitch recognition.

We all know the 2020 season is an anomaly. Five months ago, we were wondering if Riley would be the starting third baseman for the Braves or if he would be refining his swing down on the farm.

Alex Anthopoulous and Company don’t have that luxury in their back pocket at this point.

The entire baseball world has been flipped upside down. Now we’re debating whether Riley will play a bit of first base, share time with Johan Camargo at third, be plugged into the DH spot, or, perhaps unrealistically, give the Braves a lift in left field.

Much like Riley’s prospects for 2020, this baseball season is brimming with question marks. Nothing is set in stone.

So, let’s dig in a bit deeper into what we can expect from Riley in this shortened season by first analyzing his 2019 performance.