Braves Manager Walt Weiss Addresses Austin Riley Benching

ATLANTA – The Atlanta Braves are kicking off a four-game series against the Washington Nationals on Thursday night, but they will do so without third baseman Austin Riley. After a dreadful series in New York against the Mets, where the Braves put up just six runs over three games in Queens, manager Walt Weiss has started to tweak his lineup.

The most prominent of those is that Riley will take a seat in favor of utility player Mauricio Dubón. The highest-paid player on the team will get the night off after finishing 0-for-10 against the Mets with a gaudy eight strikeouts. That dismal stretch continues over his last five games, with Riley going 1-for-18 with 12 strikeouts and just one walk, while failing to score or drive in any runs for the club.

Riley has had a disappointing season through the first four months. He is slashing a dismal .212/.290/.344 over 108 games played – all of which are the lowest since his rookie season in 2019. Despite his struggles, Weiss maintains that Riley could soon snap out of his funk.

“You’ve just gotta trust your eyes,” Weiss said before the game Thursday. “Austin’s been relentelessly trying to work through these things, and at times there have been really good signs – and recently, too, on the last homestand it looked like it was a turning point. He hit the ball really hard and hit some homers. He hit some balls well in Baltimore, but it was a tough series in New York.

“After yesterday, and I’ve said this before, when guys are struggling, sometimes the best way to slow the game down is to have them watch it from the bench. Then they realize that it’s not as difficult as they’re making it.”

As far as the rest of the lineup goes, Drake Baldwin will resume his role as leadoff hitter, while Ronald Acuña Jr. slots in right behind him. Matt Olson, Michael Harris, Ozzie Albies, Dubón, Dom Smith, Mike Yastrzemski, and Jim Jarvis will round out the rest of the lineup.

Fortunately for the Braves, Riley’s struggles have not prevented the club from finding wins on the scoreboard. They still sit at 63-45, which is still good enough for first place in the National League East. But if they wish to make a deep postseason run in 2026, they will need to get more out of their third baseman over the final stretch of the season.

Grant Holmes will take the mound for the Braves on Thursday against the potent Nationals lineup, and he will face off against Washington’s Jake Irvin. Both teams are in the top three in runs scored in July, so scoring will be important in a game like this.

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