Atlanta Braves: Austin Riley returns in time for key matchup
By Steven Teal
The highly regarded Atlanta Braves prospect has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. He could be in the starting lineup on Friday evening.
For Atlanta Braves fans, Austin Riley was a big surprise when he was first called up to the show early on in 2019. All he did was bat .356/.397/.746 with seven home runs in the first 15 games he appeared in.
However, he had been in a major slump (.156 batting average with 30 strikeouts in 64 at-bats) before suffering an injury during a routine workout back in early August. Riley couldn’t seem to lay off sliders outside the zone and that caused him to miss fastballs that he normally wouldn’t miss.
Luckily, the injured knee didn’t require surgery and Riley would get the chance to work on his swing down at Single-A Rome and Triple-A Gwinnett.
Good news for Riley came on Friday as he learned he would be reinstated from the 10-day injured list and added to the Braves active roster.
In 12 games between Rome and Gwinnett, Austin went 12-for-48 at the plate with 3 doubles and one homer. The strikeouts are still a little higher (10 strikeouts in 40 at-bats) than I’d like to see but it’s much better than the rate he was striking out during his slump.
Not the best numbers coming from his rehab assignments but it’s just good to know he is healthy.
Riley played right field in the first two playoff games for Gwinnett to prepare for his possible return to the Braves lineup.
He is likely to get a chance to start with lefty Patrick Corbin on the mound for the Washington Nationals on Friday night. Corbin has struggled much more against right-handed bats this season.
The Atlanta Braves young outfielder has batted .302/.383/.774 with seven home runs against left-handed pitching in 2019.
He and Adam Duvall will definitely be nice options off the bench for Brian Snitker to use in a situation that calls for a match up.