3 Reasons Austin Riley Must Start at 3B for Atlanta Braves in 2020
By Seth Carter
The Atlanta Braves claim they have a decision to make at third base to start the 2020 season. I say the decision should already be made.
With the Atlanta Braves season currently in baseball purgatory, the hotly contested battle to win the starting hot corner job in Cobb County has evidently come to an end.
There are many uncertainties remaining. How bad will the spread of the novel coronavirus get? How long until it gets better? Will there be a shortened-season or even a season at all?
Those questions are too heavy and potentially depressing for me to address on such a beautiful day. I’m feeling optimistic and moving forward in the belief that we will have a season.
With that being stated, I’d like to discuss one of the most discussed positions of the Braves’ entire offseason, third base.
We know what both Johan Camargo and Austin Riley bring to the table. Camargo is supposed be the safe pick between the two. He brings defensive-versatility being dubbed the “super-utility player” and posting a career OPS+ of 100. Essentially being a league average hitter over parts of three seasons.
Riley brings top-level power potential and profiles as a plus defender at third base.
He also brings risk. Despite the eye-popping numbers he threw up during his first 48 games (May 15 – July 6), the alarm bells were ringing.
Riley had smoked 16 homers in his first 183 at-bats with a .262/.318/.574 slash line. Despite the excitement and power to all fields, he was still striking out in 34% of his plate appearances. To that point, Riley had only drawn an unintentional walk in 5% of his plate appearances.
From that day forth, Riley’s weaknesses had been completely uncovered by major league pitching. Between July 7 and the end of the season, Riley hit only two more homers with a .154 average. He struck out in 41.4% of his plate appearances from July 6 on and walked only six times.
The post-July 7 version of Riley was a worse hitter than Max Fried. Here’s the comparison:
- Austin Riley (July 7 – End of Season): .154/.202/.264 – 41.4 K%
- Max Fried: .196/.262/.268 – 24.6 K%
Wow, thanks for all of that positivity, right? So, after reviewing the numbers, do I still believe that Riley should start the season (whenever that may be) as the Braves’ third bagger? Yes, yes I do.
Here’s why…