Bad News for Braves Austin Riley, Seeing Doctor

The Atlanta Braves third baseman's recovery appears to have hit a snag with an unideal update coming Tuesday afternoon

Riley still isn't ruled out for a return this season | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Manager Brian Snitker didn’t have the update he hoped to have on Atlanta Braves first baseman Austin Riley. He said that Riley had his workouts on Tuesday as planned, but they didn’t go well. 

Riley was still feeling it while doing running drills. Snitker is also concerned about what could happen when the third baseman needs to make a diving play, which caused his latest injury in the first place. 

He’s going to be evaluated on Wednesday by a doctor, and more will be known about his situation then. 

Until this update, Snitker had been giving general updates that he was going through his drills, though he was still feeling it in those updates, too.

Any indication that he was progressing was nixed by this update. Ideally, more of a timetable is determined after he sees a doctor, but that’s not a guarantee either.

Riley has been out since he exited the MLB Speedway Classic on Aug. 3. The aforementioned diving play came at home plate when he tagged out Elly De La Cruz. It was arguably one of the plays of the year, and it was immediately overshadowed. 

As of now, we can still say he has a chance to be back sometime this season. 

In 102 games this season, Riley is batting .260 with a .737 OPS, 16 home runs and 54 RBIs. Regardless of how up and down his season has been, it’s a bat that will always be welcomed back into the lineup.

Nacho Alvarez Jr. has been filling in at third base during Riley’s absence. His time up in the big leagues has shown improvement, but he is still figuring things out. He’s batting .230 with a .618 OPS. 

What has stood out is his general ability to get on base this season. He has an on-base percentage of .321. That’s pushing 100 points above his batting average, which is an ideal spot for it to be. 

Strikeouts are an issue for him still at a glaring rate. He’s punched out 24 times in 84 plate appearances this season, about 28% of the time. Working on his plate discipline would help him take that next big step. 

His batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is .340. When he does make contact, there’s a good chance that something good happens. He just needs to find the balance between getting the ball in play more with creating that good contact when he does.