While this year has been mostly a disaster for the Atlanta Braves this year, that doesn’t mean that it’s been a season devoid of positive signs. Drake Baldwin’s putting together a strong Rookie of the Year campaign. Spencer Schwellenbach looked great before his elbow unfortunately exploded a little bit.
And, more recently, Austin Riley is beginning to look like himself again after a down start to the year.
Amid Braves’ collapse, Austin Riley is finally showing signs of life at the plate
While Riley’s slashline of .273/.373/.440 with 14 home runs and 47 RBI, that doesn’t tell the whole story of his year. After getting off to another strong start, Riley hit a wall in June, hitting just .255 with two home runs, nine RBI and an on-base percentage of just .292. Riley's .660 OPS was the second-worst monthly mark of his entire career.
Luckily, things changed once the calendar turned to July. In nine games this month, Riley has already smashed two home runs and is hitting .308. Seven of his 12 hits have gone for extra bases.
While that’s great to see, it makes the Braves’ 2-7 record in July all the more frustrating. The Braves haven’t given themselves any room for error due to their struggles to start the year, so they should be doing everything in their power to capitalize on someone like Riley finding his groove.
Instead, he’s been let down by everyone else. Marcell Ozuna has been awful due to his nagging hip injury, Ronald Acuña Jr. has hit just .172 and Ozzie Albies has continued to underperform. If it weren’t for Riley and Matt Olson (.314 average in July), the Braves may be winless this month.
But even if his teammates are letting him down, it’s still great to see Riley find his swing since he still has seven guaranteed years left on the 10-year deal he inked with the Braves.
Riley’s always going to have some swing and miss in his game (eighth percentile in strikeout rate), but you’ll take that when he’s in the 90th percentile in average exit velocity and barrel rate and the 88th percentile in hard-hit rate. When Riley’s at his best, he’s punishing mistakes and using his generational power to get the ball in the air. But he can’t do it all by himself.
It’ll be fun to watch Acuña continue to work his way back from injury and for Olson and Riley to keep up their strong summers, but it’s also a bit deflating that it’s all going to be for naught because they’re in a lineup with Michael Harris II (50 OPS+), Nick Allen (67) and Albies (72).