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Can Austin Riley Bounce Back for Atlanta Braves in 2020?

By John W. Scafetta

ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 22: Austin Riley #27 of the Atlanta Braves looks on during a game against the San Francisco Giants at SunTrust Park on September 22, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 22: Austin Riley #27 of the Atlanta Braves looks on during a game against the San Francisco Giants at SunTrust Park on September 22, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /
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Austin Riley bats during the game against the Washington Nationals at SunTrust Park on September 06, 2019. (Photo credit by Mike Zarrilli via Getty Images)
Austin Riley bats during the game against the Washington Nationals at SunTrust Park on September 06, 2019. (Photo credit by Mike Zarrilli via Getty Images) /

If there’s one item that leaps off the stat page from last year, it’s Riley’s absurd strikeout rate with the Atlanta Braves(tip of the cap to FanGraphs for providing stats included within this article).

In just 274 at-bats, he struck out an eye-popping 108 times. That’s good for a strikeout rate of 39.4 percent, which won’t provide a player with much praise.

But before roasting Riley for his faults, let’s take a second to reflect on his remarkable ascent.

Riley, who homered in his second big league at-bat on May 15, put together an unbelievable slash-line of .356/.397/.746 with seven home runs and 20 RBI in just 15 games. For his efforts, he was named the National League Rookie of the Month in May. In his first 183 Major League at bats, he hit .262 with 16 home runs.

But following his tremendous month of May, Riley took a precipitous plunge.

The long ball was never in question.

The ability to hit a slider and lay off of off-speed pitches out of the zone, however, was.

Riley clearly tried to adjust. But by concentrating on the off-speed pitches, he ended up missing fastballs.

In early August, he suffered a right knee sprain while working out, which was later revealed to be a partial tear in his lateral collateral ligament. He finished the season batting .239 with 18 home runs and 49 RBI.

In the second half of the season, he hit just .161, which included two home runs in 31 games.

To gain a better understand of his downward trajectory, let’s take a look at the splits.

May (59 at-bats): .356, 7 home runs, 20 RBI, 21 strikeouts

June (106 at-bats): .226, 7 home runs, 17 RBI, 37 strikeouts

July (64 at-bats): .156, 2 home runs, 7 RBI, 30 strikeouts

Aug/Sept/Oct (45 at-bats): .155, 2 home runs, 5 RBI, 18 strikeouts

Riley, now 23, is still widely-regarded as one of the top young bats in the big leagues, purely from a power perspective.

But in 2020, questions abound. Where will he play? Can he maintain consistency?

There’s no opportunity to figure things out down on the farm. He’ll only have 60 regular season games to prove it, and, like everyone else facing the arms housed in the National League East and American League East, there isn’t exactly a lull in talent.

So, let’s find out what we can expect.

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