The Braves may not be ready to do anything dramatic with Austin Riley’s playing time, but the question is hanging there now, and it’s getting harder to ignore.
Right now, the case for keeping him in the lineup is pretty straightforward. Atlanta doesn’t have many alternatives, nothing has changed yet, and Riley did show a brief stretch where it looked like he might be turning things around. That window, though, has closed fast.
What’s left is a hitter who has slipped right back into the same problems. In yesterday’s day game, Riley went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
In the nightcap, he was 0-for-3 with three more strikeouts and a hit-by-pitch. Against the Orioles, he posted a sub-.300 wOBA and a sub-.200 xwOBA.
He hit well in the three series surrounding the All-Star Break, then went back to struggling in the two series since.
The difference between the two stretches is pretty clear. During the better run, Riley was chasing less and swinging at more strikes, which is exactly what the Braves wanted to see.
Since then, he’s been back to swinging at just about everything. That’s not always the worst thing in the world, but the contact hasn’t been there.
And that’s the problem. Riley’s offensive issues have kept rolling along, and there hasn’t been any real defensive rebound to soften the blow. Per Statcast’s OAA-based measure, he’s been marginally below average or worse at third base in every season of his career, aside from the tiny handful of innings he played there in his debut year.
So the upside is mostly hope - hope that he suddenly figures it out and carries that forward. A couple of weeks ago, that looked possible. After the last week, it looks a lot less certain.
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