Braves’ Austin Riley says his slump is ‘frustrating as hell right now’
Austin Riley’s offensive malaise early in the season has not gone away as he and the Braves had hoped it would. Not yet anyhow.
A new month might be just what Riley needs, as his career numbers for May are much better than the first month of the season (which often includes games in March in addition to April). But that doesn’t heal the pain the Braves’ (not so much) slugging third baseman has suffered through.
Riley’s batting average fell to .190 Thursday after an 0-for-4 day that included three strikeouts.
“It’s frustrating as hell right now, I can tell you that. I don’t know if I’ve been this bad in a long time,” Riley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in the clubhouse Thursday after the Braves lost 5-2 to the Tigers. “Nobody wants it more than me. Just got to keep grinding on it.”
In Thursday’s loss, with runners at second and third and two outs in the first inning, Riley struck out on five pitches. In the third inning with one out, Ozzie Albies took third on a wild pitch, the first pitch of Riley’s at bat. Riley then swung at three straight pitches to strike out again and leave Albies stranded.
Riley’s at-bat in the sixth inning resulted in a pop-up to right. With one out and the Braves down 3-2 in the eighth, Riley struck out looking. One pitch before the K, he had ripped a line drive down the third base line that curved foul just to the left of the chalk.
“When you’re hot, that’s a guaranteed double,” Riley said. “When things aren’t going well, that pretty much goes foul every time. You try to take the positives in that, like, ‘Yeah, I barreled that ball up,’ and try to build on that.”
Riley goes into this weekend’s series against the Rockies at hitter-friendly Coors Field in Denver now 2-for-37 in his last 37 at-bats (dating back to April 20). He has struck out 14 times over that span and accounted for just two RBIs.
Riley has only three home runs, and his OPS has plummeted to .588.
“Austin’s fighting through it, man. He’s going through it right now, everybody does in this league,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said Thursday. “But he’s doing all the right things. He’s working. We know what a pro he is, and he’s going to figure it out. It wasn’t too long ago he had three homers in two days (April 15 and 17 in Philadelphia). That’s not too far in the rearview mirror. He’s gonna get there. It’s just been tough sledding for him right now.”
Riley has had slow starts before, but never quite like this. He hit .226 to begin the 2024 season and .253 at the outset of 2023. And for his career, Riley has hit .252 in the season’s first month compared with .278 in May.
Those trends provide a glimmer of hope that a turnaround might be forthcoming, but some of the analytics say the Mississippian has a long road ahead. Riley’s batting run value (minus-5), expected batting average (.215), whiff percentage (31.7) and launch angle sweet spot percentage (26.4) are all alarmingly low.
To compound Riley’s struggles, he is about the only Braves regular stuck in an offensive rut of this proportion. Right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. and left fielder Mike Yastrzemski have also had slow offensive starts, yet they have at least shown signs of life in recent days.
So now everyone is seemingly waiting on Riley, the recently turned 29-year-old who in 2022 signed a 10-year, $212 million contract — the most lucrative in franchise history — that runs through the 2032 season. Maybe a new month (or some swings in the Mile High City) can get Riley back on track?
“I think at this point, I just got to be mentally strong. You can look at video and look at all different kind of things, and yeah, there may be some mechanical stuff, but I think the main thing is being mentally strong up there and not giving in,” Riley said. “I think you saw a little bit of that pressing and obviously wanting to drive guys in and wanting to do too much and wanting to help the team out. I mean, ultimately, that’s what I want. I want nothing more than to help this team win.
“It’s just a matter of getting back to not overthinking everything and letting the game come to me. I think that’s about the only thing that I can do right now, is stay positive and just try to get back to the basics of the game.”
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