Riley's MVP case becoming hard to ignore

ATLANTA -- Austin Riley was nearly overlooked for this year’s All-Star Game. But the Braves third baseman seems destined to draw plenty of attention, especially from MVP voters, over the remainder of this season.

Riley backed Kyle Wright’s latest impressive effort and strengthened his MVP resume while helping the Braves claim a 7-2 win over the Angels on Saturday night at Truist Park. The powerful slugger highlighted a three-hit performance with his 28th homer of the season.

“He’s a really, really good hitter,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s pretty cool for all of us who have seen him from the get-go to where he is now, with the maturity, growth and confidence. What he’s doing right now is pretty special.”

With Dansby Swanson and Riley pacing a powerful lineup and Wright fortifying a strong rotation, the Braves have won 35 of their past 46 games. They have made up 10 games in the NL East race and now sit just a half-game behind the first-place Mets. This is the closest Atlanta has been to first place all season.

As Wright allowed two runs over six innings, he became the first NL pitcher to 12 wins and he kept himself with teammate Max Fried in the Cy Young Award discussion. Swanson, Riley and Matt Olson might all find themselves in the thick of MVP talks.

Riley extended MLB’s longest current hitting streak to 15 games when he singled during a two-run first inning. He added another single during a three-run third and then blew the game open with a two-run homer in the fourth. He has hit .435 with eight homers and a 1.365 OPS during this career-long hitting streak.

“I’m not missing pitches right now and that is huge,” Riley said. “I’m just trying to stay within myself and trying not to do too much.”

This surge has made it impossible for the baseball world to ignore Riley, who was added to the National League’s All-Star roster just three days before the Midsummer Classic. Before this late addition, it looked like Riley might realize the same fate as Chipper Jones, the iconic Braves third baseman who was an All-Star snub during his 1999 NL MVP season.

As they bid for a fifth consecutive NL East crown and second straight World Series title, the Braves have a couple solid candidates. Entering Saturday, Swanson ranked fourth among NL position players with 4.4 WAR while Riley ranked eighth with a 3.6, according to FanGraphs.

Riley also ranked third in the NL with a 153 wRC+, trailing only Paul Goldschmidt (185) and Freddie Freeman (162). His 28 homers tie him with Yordan Alvarez for MLB’s third-highest total, trailing Aaron Judge (36) and Kyle Schwarber (30). His 52 extra-base hits ranks second in the NL, trailing only Olson (53).

"He kills fastballs,” Angels starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval said. “I heard when I came in here that he has the hardest exit velo against breaking balls, too. So it's tough. You have to execute. Honestly, I'm at a loss for words."

Sandoval was echoing the sentiments of many opposing pitchers. Riley didn’t enter the day with the highest exit velo against breaking balls. His 94.6 mph average exit velo ranked second, putting him between Giancarlo Stanton (97.9) and Judge (94.5).

When Riley came up in 2019 and tried to establish himself in 2020, he was susceptible to sliders. But the plate discipline he has shown over the past two seasons has put him in position to either hammer fastballs or take advantage of mistake sliders, like the one he drilled into the left-field seats on Saturday.

Riley struck out on 36.4 percent of his plate appearances and produced a 6.1 percent home run rate in 2019. He had a 25.4 percent strikeout percentage and 5.0 home run percentage when he hit .303 with 33 home runs last year. But the 25-year-old slugger has taken it one step further by producing a 6.9 percent homer rate and 25.7 percent strikeout rate this year.

If Riley continues to consistently produce at the plate, he could join Hank Aaron and Jones as the only Braves to ever hit .300 with 30-plus homers in consecutive seasons.

“He’s a complete hitter and he’s doing it all,” Wright said. “He’s hitting for power and working at-bats. We talk a lot about his hitting, but his defense has been incredible too. He’s a complete player.”