The Atlanta Braves thought one of their third basemen would step up and claim the role at this point in the season. Both Camargo and Riley have gotten off to a slow start, but one of them appears to be heating up.
Things have not gone according to plan to this point for the Atlanta Braves at third base. It’s been a rough go for the two talented youngsters in 2020. So much so, that some people are asking GM Alex Anthopoulos to go out and get a third baseman at the trade deadline.
Austin Riley is hitting just .205 on the season with a .286 OBP.
At this point, Johan Camargo is hitting .186 and striking out like he’s Austin Riley. Thirty-four percent of his plate appearances have ended in an emphatic gesture by the umpire (strikeouts).
Meanwhile, we have noted that while Austin’s numbers haven’t born it out yet, he has shown more patience this year. He’s been able to lay off of breaking balls out of the zone and while it was his achilles heel last season.
Once pitchers figured Riley out they fed him a steady diet of breaking balls, and it worked. He hit just .195 off of the breaking pitches last season, which led to a terrible second half.
If it looks like he’s handling breaking balls better this season, he is. He’s hitting .375 off breaking balls with all four of his homers off of such pitches.
The problem?
He’s only hitting .175 against the fastball this season.
Atlanta Braves – Is Austin Riley Catching Fire?
In his past five games, he has struck out in just three of his 20 plate appearances and is hitting .389 with a .611 slugging percentage.
It’s a small sample size but so his Riley’s entire major-league career to this point. Remember, this is a kid with only 352 career at-bats.
Could this be a turning point for Austin Riley?