Austin

Riley

Riley wasn’t very good last year and certainly hasn’t been any good in batting .219/.295/.355 this season, but it’d still be very dangerous to write him off while his power remains intact. Maybe he won’t fully rebound, but it’s hard to imagine him not being somewhat better the rest of the way.

Still patiently waiting for Riley to turn the corner, it was nice to see him have such a strong game. Apart from the three hits, he had four hard-hit balls. Still, eight home runs and a .206 batting average are still completely inexcusable as we approach the halfway point in the season.

It’s an extremely rare off day for Riley, who is hitting .242 (23-for-95) with five homers and 14 RBI since the start of May. The decision enables Atlanta to get Mauricio Dubón in the lineup at the hot corner to face Reds righty Brady Singer.

Walt Weiss sure does love to tinker. He also has Michael Harris II batting second for the first time tonight. Ozzie Albies is in the cleanup spot. Riley is back down to .211/.279/.368 for the season after the last two games. He’s hit .250 with four homers and 11 RBI in 17 games this month, but that has come with a poor 22/2 K/BB.

Riley’s homer was a three-run blast in the second inning off Brayan Bello, giving Atlanta a lead they wouldn’t surrender. It hasn’t yet been the bounce-back season many fantasy managers were hoping for, but he’s hit better in May, with four of his seven homers coming this month. Riley entered Sunday with a barrel rate below 10 percent for the first time in his career, but his track record remains worth betting on just like it was back in draft season. The Braves visit the Marlins for a four-game set before returning home to face the Nationals next weekend.

Riley has been awful to begin the season, but after a two-hit game Friday, the 29-year-old had one of his best games of 2026. He not only hit his third homer, but he also stole his third base, drew a walk and scored a couple of runs. Even with the solid contest, he’s still slashing .205/.287/.346, but fantasy managers know what kind of runs Riley is capable of going on. Perhaps this is the start.

Riley is now batting .190/.274/.314 through his first 135 plate appearances of 2026. It’s a disappointing start for a player who appeared locked in this spring and who many expected to bounce back if health cooperated. He was recently dropped to sixth against right-handers.

Riley has finally begun to get going. This was his first multi-homer game since May 4th of last year and he didn’t have a single long ball on his ledger until the Braves’ most recent game this past Wednesday. His quality of contact had been trending up over the last week or so though and suddenly, he’s on a power surge. Here’s to hoping he’s emerged from the two-year funk he’s been trapped in.

Finally, Riley hit his first home run of the season. It was a 400 foot blast at 109 mph off the bat and you could see the weight lifted off his shoulders as he rounded the bases. He still has an uphill climb ahead of him with just a .229 batting average and .645 OPS through 19 games after two consecutive poor seasons.

Riley was one of the few bright spots for Atlanta on a forgettable evening at Truist Park as he delivered an RBI single against Miami starter Eury Pérez in the fourth inning. He proceeded to steal second base and score on Mike Yastrzemski’s single later in the frame. He picked up an additional RBI with a fifth-inning ground out. The 29-year-old power-hitting third baseman is still searching for his first round-tripper of the season through 17 games.