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How Did Braves Star Austin Riley Get So Good at Defense?

For the past few seasons, the one flaw Braves fans could find with Austin Riley was his defense. Now, he's fixed it.

By Mitchell Barbee |
San Francisco Giants v Atlanta Braves
San Francisco Giants v Atlanta Braves / Alex Slitz/GettyImages
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From 2019-2022, Austin Riley was among the worst defensive 3B according to defensive metrics. While he certainly had his defenders, the general consensus among analytical fans was that Riley's defense was lacking.

However, in 2023, eye-test fans and analytic fans are finally on the same page. After a poor April, Riley has turned his season around defensively. But how bad was Riley's defense, and what's changed this season?

How bad was Austin Riley's defense?

Coming into the 2023 season, Riley had the defensive metrics split. While Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) believed he was an above-average defensive player, with 10 DRS in his career at 3B, UZR/150 and Outs Above Average (OAA) believed he was one of the worst defensive 3B in baseball.

From 2019-2022, Riley was tied with Max Muncy with the lowest UZR/150 and ranked second-to-last in OAA, with only Hunter Dozier ranking lower.

While there are certainly Braves fans and media who have always stood by Riley's defense, most Braves who track the metrics agree he hasn't been great.

This isn't to say he hasn't made great plays. He's made many in his time with Atlanta. Being a "bad" defensive player doesn't have to mean you're an incompetent fielder.

However, at season's end, for four straight seasons, the defensive metrics graded Riley as a solidly below-average player defensively. As much as Braves fans who defend Riley's defense wish, OAA wasn't just randomly generating numbers. What was going on?

As it turns out, Riley was having an interesting problem. He was fine at making plays he got to, meaning once the ball was in his glove, Riley would make the play. Getting to the ball was the issue.

There are plays like this single by Francisco Lindor or this double by David Peralta that are hit right at Austin that he can't field.

Then there are plays like this one that went as a double where Riley is right at the ball but still isn't able to make a play on it (and then somehow makes it worse).

However, a year later, these mistakes by Riley are no longer happening.

How did Riley improve?

At the start of the year, it looked like he hadn't. By the end of April, Riley had already accumulated -4 OAA. However, once May started, Riley's defense turned around.

So, what's changed?

One huge difference is his positioning. In 2022, he was one of the closest-positioned 3B in baseball, starting 114 feet from home. Only five players who saw more than 1000 PAs on the field at 3B were closer.

This year, he's starting 121 feet back. He's now the 18th farthest away from home when a pitch is thrown on average.

He's also shifted far more to the left side of the infield but so has every 3B. This is likely a result of the shift ban. Still, in terms of positioning, he's gone from being, on average, positioned far closer to SS in 2022, to being placed closer to the 3B bag in 2023, at least compared to the average 3B.

So, has this actually helped or is this a case of correlation not equaling causation?

In 2022, Riley was worth -6 OAA at 3B. While he was fine going to 3B, he struggled going towards 1B, worth -3 OAA, or going in on balls, being worth -4 OAA.

In 2023, Riley improved greatly on balls going in, being worth 0 OAA. He's improved slightly on balls towards 1B, being worth -2. He's greatly improved on balls toward 3B, however.

It seems paradoxical that moving back would improve Riley's defense coming in on balls. Without being able to see which balls Riley failed to make plays on this season versus last (and being able to see out expectancy), I can't definitively say whether moving back has helped him.

However, moving back would make more sense when it comes to getting balls to his right and left. After all, he now has an extra few feet to field the ball.

Instead of letting a ball like this get past him, Riley is now giving himself an extra few milliseconds to field it.

Is Austin's defense for real?

If you've sworn by the eye-test, then Riley has always been a good defender. This year hasn't changed your mind.

If you haven't been a believer in Riley's defense and you don't watch every single second of every single game (most of us don't), it might be hard to buy into the idea that moving back a few feet was the missing piece all along.

Truthfully, there's likely a lot more that goes into Riley's improvements that I can't see because I don't have access to it (give me infield OAA videos, Baseball Savant). However, he's posted three straight months with above-average defense.

As we saw with Ozzie Albies earlier this year, defense from month to month can be fickle. But Riley certainly looks capable of continuing to play solid defense.

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