Reilly Reaches New Heights! Braves Star Earns Top Honors Among Third Baseman
Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley heads into the 2025 season ranked among the top players at his position.
Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter ranked Riley the No. 5 player at his position. The four guys ahead of him are Jose Ramirez, Matt Chapman, Manny Machado and Rafael Devers.
Reuter likes Riley for his consistency over the last few seasons leading up to 2024. He acknowledged that his late-season injury played a role in denying him a chance at yet another 30-home run, 90-RBI season.
The 27-year-old third baseman finished last season with a slash line of .256/.322/.461, a 115 OPS+, 26 doubles, 19 home runs, 56 RBI and 2.9 WAR in 110 games. As the summer went on, he looked much more like his All-Star self than the overall season numbers show. In his final 57 games of the year, he slashed .292/.354/.588 with 16 home runs and 36 RBIs. At that pace, he had a legitimate shot of reaching 30 home runs again.
The Braves also felt the loss of that bat down the stretch and in their short appearance in the postseason.
Because of his contract (10-year, $212 million), Reuter wrote the Braves will be counting on Riley to be healthy again. Money is one reason, but having him back and playing at a high level in the middle of the order is an even bigger reason for them to hope he’s healthy.
So far, his start to Spring Training has been slow. In his first four games, Riley is 1-for-11 with no walks and no RBIs. He qualifies at this time as a trending downward hitter, but coming off a season-ending wrist injury, he can be given some benefit of the doubt.
