The Signs of Life in Austin Riley’s Bat
The results haven’t followed yet, but the underlying approach in Los Angeles suggests something might be changing.
Atlanta’s aircraft carriers are starting to get underway.
Ronald Acuña Jr. hit two doubles on Wednesday in Atlanta’s 8-2 win over the Angels. While he doesn’t yet have a home run, he’s put six balls in play over 100 mph, including a 109.6 mph line drive over the weekend in Arizona, and random variance dictates that his batted ball underperformance (.382 xwOBA, actual .252 wOBA) will start to turn.
Matt Olson hit his third homer of the season on Wednesday and, like Ronald, has several balls over 100 mph on the season, including multiple at 106 mph. He’s already up to a .280 average and .948 OPS on the season.
But Austin Riley? He’s still mired in the depths of his 2024-2025 performance. After three seasons of a .286/.354/.525 line with a 136 wRC+, injuries and underperformance have reduced the once ‘write him in for 160 games a season’ young slugger to just 212 games and a 110 wRC+ line over the last two seasons.
His 2026 performance hasn’t been much to crow about, either - a .200 average (9-45) with just two extra base hits (both doubles) and 12 strikeouts. But the old Austin Riley’s hiding in there, and we saw glimpses of it against the Angels this week.
Let’s talk about it.
