While there were no shortage of Atlanta Braves players that struggled to start the 2025 season, Austin Riley's struggles were perhaps the most pronounced. Through his first seven games of the season, Riley amassed just three hits and his .432 OPS actually looked better than he did given how lost at the plate he was.
This wasn't a situation where Riley wasn't putting in the work or lacked energy. He was clearly TRYING to perform, but seemed at a loss as to why he was slumping and was even embarrassed by it. Still, he kept working at the problem and now we are finally starting to see the results.
Riley was already on quite the heater entering Monday's matchup against the Cardinals. After going 2-3 with a walk, a key two-run bomb, and a hustle infield single that set the stage for the Braves' comeback in the Braves' win, now it looks like Riley could be playing his way into real MVP consideration.
Austin Riley's April could be the start of a truly special season
Beating St. Louis on Monday was a team effort, but Riley was in the center of a lot of the action and that has been a common thread throughout the Braves' recent turnaround. Since April 4, Riley is slashing .349/.379/.635 with five homers in just 15 games of work. During that same time period, his 179 wRC+ ranks 11th in the National League, his 1.0 fWAR ranks 9th, and his 1.014 OPS also ranks 11th.
He is going to have to start drawing more walks to really stand out as his 4.2% walk rate this season both stinks and is significantly below his career norms, but there should be a lot of optimism with Riley's start. Between his defensive improvements as well as his ability to impact the ball, Riley has all the ingredients to make a real run at being one of the best hitters in the National League this year.
Again, it is still early and we have seen Riley go on hot streaks before only to fall off for weeks or even months at a time. He is going to have to keep this up for more than just a few weeks before anyone should truly buy in that this is real. However, Riley's production is at such a high level that if he can keep this up, he might end up being a guy in consideration for some end of season hardware.