When Austin Riley went on the injured list, it felt like par for the course for the Atlanta Braves. Riley was simply the latest injury to befall the Braves and the latest disappointment in a long line of them from the 2025 season. While his abdominal injury isn't considered serious, it looks like Braves fans will have to wait a bit longer to see him take the field again.
Coming out of the weekend, the word was that Riley was doing infield drills and had been checking all the boxes he needed to check before coming back. Even amongst the Braves' beat writers, most thought that Riley would be activated on Tuesday unless he felt discomfort after his workouts and that would be the end of it.
Unfortunately, Riley is not getting activated as originally thought and fans are going to have to wait at least a couple of days before he takes the field again.
Snit said Riley was still dealing with a shade of discomfort today. So, they decided to wait a couple days to activate him. He’ll likely play Friday in Texas
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) July 22, 2025
Austin Riley is still dealing with his abdominal injury despite initial optimism
Unfortunately, Riley was feeling comfortable today after doing fielding drills yesterday which was a concern especially when it comes to coming in on grounders. It doesn't appear as though that the Braves and Riley view this as a much of a setback for now. The current expectation is that Riley will return on Friday.
Of course, that is what everyone thought about today given the reporting on Riley's progress since the end of the All-Star break. There shouldn't be cause for panic for now as it is just a couple of days and it isn't like the Braves are playing for anything at the moment, but Riley's situation is worth monitoring going forward especially if there is another delay.
Thankfully, the Braves have gotten some decent production out of rookie Nacho Alvarez Jr. and the offense seems to be in a better place with Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin getting regular playing time in the same lineups. It sure would be nice to have Atlanta at full strength for a change, though.