2025 Braves Players Year in Review: Austin Riley

There are few players that the Atlanta Braves should be more thankful for than Austin Riley. He’s been a consistent player for the team on offense and defense, all while staying clear of drama and negative press. He’s been with the Braves for all of his seven-year career and is on a new, long-term deal that’s set to last through at least 2032.

Here’s a look at Riley’s 2025 season in review, as well as how he could impact the Braves moving forward.

Riley’s season was cut dramatically short by an abdominal injury he reaggravated in the Speedway Classic against the Reds. The injury ultimately required surgery. However, his production in the time he was available proved once again to be difficult to replace, even with another down year overall. 

While mostly healthy, Riley batted .260 with 16 home runs and 54 RBIs. He eclipsed 100 hits and 20 doubles for the fifth straight time in his career and even netted a triple to continue his seven-year streak of at least one triple per season.

Between April 8, when his early cold streak ended, and July 11, when he initally when down with an injury, be was batting .288 with a .794 OPS, and was on a 25-home run and 85-RBI pace. Again, still not the higher-valber offense we're used to seeing, but it's better than the overall numbers indicate.

In the nine games he played after his inital injury, he batted .108 with a .451 OPS in 39 plate appearances, dragging down his overall numbers before being done for good.

Even though he was limited by lingering effects of a hand injury from 2024, Riley still managed to bat in the high upper percentiles for bat speed, barrel rate, hard hit percentage and average exit velocity.

Defensively, Riley had another year where he committed at least 10 errors. He made 11 errors on 232 total chances, for a fielding percentage of .953. He finished with a defensive runs saved of -2. Riley’s glove has never exactly been Gold Glove caliber. His value has come from his bat. He’s not going to get punished for this any more than usual. 

2025 marked the second straight season marred by injury for the Mississippi native, as his 2024 season was also cut short by an injury. He was hit by a pitch and fractured his hand against the Angels back in 2024. He was starting to surge in the couple of months ahead of that injury (.275 average, .870 OPS in final 68 games), and we haven’t seen him get going again at that rate since.

If Riley’s able to make a full recovery, he has a chance to get back to the level of dominance he exhibited in his run from 2021 to 2023. During that time, he batted over .270 and had a combined total of 108 home runs and 526 hits and was named an All-Star twice and received MVP votes all three years.

The 28-year-old’s 10-year, $212 million contract is set to last through 2032 with a club option for 2033, and if Riley can stay injury-free, he’ll likely prove to be a valuable piece to the team for that time and beyond.

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