It has been a great start to the first half for Atlanta Braves' third baseman Austin Riley. He's on an absolute tear at the plate currently and has shown no signs of slowing down any time soon.
Riley has put the league on notice and that he's going to find a way to hit the ball. This is one of those famous tears that Austin seems to go on every year. There seems to be a month or so where he just rakes.
The Mississippi native was named National League Player of the Week for the week of July 17th through July 23rd.
He slashed .400/.400/1.240 for the week including 9 runs on 10 hits with 6 home runs and 16 runs batted in. That is also good for a 1.640 OPS for the week. Absolutely bonkers numbers for Riley.
It all started with a 7 RBI performance from Riley as he helped the Braves jump all over Arizona in the first game of that series to end the team's losing streak. That also began a streak for Austin where he hit a home run in five straight games which tied a franchise record.
According to Mark Bowman of MLB.com, this makes Riley 1 of just 10 Braves players to accomplish that feat:
""This list of 10 players is headlined by Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Chipper Jones, and Rogers Hornsby. It also includes Ronald Acuña Jr., Brian McCann, Ozzie Virgil, Jeff Burroughs, Joe Adock, and Eddie Miller.""Mark Bowman, MLB.com
That is some excellent company to find yourself in for such a historic franchise.
Austin currently has a .270 average through 389 at-bats with 22 HR and 61 RBI. He has the second-best average (.270), OPS (.818), and slugging percentage (.488) among third basemen in the National League with just Nolan Arenado ahead of him. His on-base percentage (.330) sits at fifth best in the NL amongst third basemen as well.
While the Braves are off today, I expect Austin Riley will pick up just where he left off as Atlanta takes on the Red Sox at Fenway. The Green Monster may want to prepare for some monster homers from the powerful third baseman.