Austin Riley wouldn’t mind a few hits staying in the ballpark every now and then.
The Braves’ slugging rookie made waves with comments following Wednesday’s win over the Phillies when he quipped he’d like to scatter singles and walks among his mammoth homers.
“Fifteen home runs is great, but a single every now and then, a walk or two would be nice, too. So like I said, a lot of stuff to work on,” said Riley, who hit a three-run shot earlier in the night.
The pizzazz of home runs can overshadow Riley’s recent struggles. In his past 15 games through Thursday, he’s hit .192/.263/.462 with eight RBIs. He’s launched four homers in that time, which again, catch more attention than his strikeouts (23 in his past 52 at-bats).
Wednesday was a positive step, with Riley homering off a slider. Manager Brian Snitker joked Riley will see so many breaking pitches he’ll eventually have to hit them.
“He wants to be a complete hitter,” Snitker said. “He wants to be a hitter. Not just a slugger, a hitter. I don’t know that you can control that. You just stay with your approach and put good at-bats on. All that other stuff will take care of itself.”
Riley doesn’t look like a player who’ll hit .330 in a season, Snitker opined while acknowledging it’s too early to truly project, but he could hover in the .280 or .290 range while possessing one of the best power bats in the National League.
For now, the Braves will happily accept an upward trend in the direction Riley’s aiming: More singles, more walks – which will stem from laying off those pesky breaking pitches – and decreasing his 35 percent strikeout rate.
