Austin Riley DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley brought his best stuff to the ballpark on Sunday Night Baseball as the Braves were looking to avoid the three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Riley went 2-for-4 in the evening with two home runs, both being two-run shots from right-handed pitcher Dustin May. Both long balls were needed, as the Braves went on to win the contest 4-3 with all of the runs driven in by Riley. After Sunday's impressive performance, Riley bumped his season slash line to .292/.336/.511 with eight home runs, 14 runs scored, and 24 RBI. Riley is back on track to his All-Star caliber performance after a sluggish 2024 season and a slow start to 2025. Next up for the Braves is a four-game homestand against the Cincinnati Reds.

Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley went 2-for-3 with a homer, a walk, two runs, and two RBI in a 7-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday. Riley tied the game with a two-run homer off St. Louis starter Erick Fedde in the third inning on a shot that traveled 412 feet with a 107 MPH exit velocity. Riley is now hitting .278 with six homers, 12 runs, and 15 RBI across 90 at-bats this season. He had done a majority of his damage over the past seven games, with four homers and nine RBI over that span. Riley should be locked into fantasy lineups while he's swinging a hot bat.

Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley continued to get things going offensively in Monday's 8-4 win over the Blue Jays. Riley went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run and a three-run HR. The 28-year-old crushed a third-inning Easton Lucas fastball over the center-field wall to score two and obliterated a fifth-inning Lucas slider deep into the center-field seats to score three. After collecting just two hits in March, Riley has looked like his old self and is now slashing .288/.329/.530 with four HR and 11 RBI in 70 plate appearances. Hopefully, he can help drive a turnaround for a Braves' lineup that is still struggling overall.

Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley has been dropped down to fifth in the batting order for Friday's series opener at Truist Park against the division-rival Miami Marlins and right-hander Max Meyer. Riley has hit either second or third for the first seven games of the season, but the Braves are going to change things up as they search for their first win of 2025. The 28-year-old right-handed slugger isn't the only one slumping to begin the year in Atlanta's lineup, but he has gone 3-for-27 with a home run, one RBI, two runs scored, two walks and 11 strikeouts in 29 plate appearances. Second baseman Ozzie Albies will hit second in the lineup. The drop in the order will make Riley less attractive for DFS purposes, although he has hit .400 with a solo home run in a small sample size of five career at-bats against Meyer.

Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley (hand) returned to the team's Grapefruit League lineup on Saturday against the Minnesota Twins and went 1-for-3 in the contest with a double while playing third base and batting in the two-hole. Riley was hit by a pitch on his right hand on Friday but was able to return to action a day later. The 27-year-old right-handed slugger is now hitting a cool .310 with an .892 OPS, a homer, three doubles and two runs scored in 12 spring training games. Riley actually suffered a season-ending fractured right hand in mid-August of last year and finished with 19 home runs, 56 RBI and 63 runs scored in just 110 games in 2024 as a result. The two-time All-Star is completely healthy now, though, and should be considered a top-five fantasy third baseman on a strong team after hitting 30-plus home runs in each season from 2021-23.