Austin Riley is feeling good and ready to take on the baseball world following a tough end to his previous season.
With the Grapefruit League season underway, each game and each day is one more removed from the challenges the Atlanta Braves faced a year ago. The renewal of Spring Training saw the club assemble a much healthier roster, one that is ready to do its talking on the field in 2025.
Third baseman Austin Riley was one of several key Braves to miss significant time due to injury last year. He was struck on the left hand by a 97-mph fastball thrown by Los Angeles Angels reliever Jack Kochanowicz on August 18, 2024. Though he held out hope for a return, the injury ultimately ended Riley’s season.
Fully recovered and recharged as Atlanta reported to camp, Riley is one of many players feeling confident that a healthy Braves team can once again be among baseball’s best.
Riley, who will turn 28 years old on April 2, missed 52 games last season thanks to that broken hand and an oblique issue. He batted just .256 with 19 home runs and 56 RBI, a far cry from his full-season averages of .286 with 36 homers and 99 RBI from 2021-2023.
I caught up with the two-time All-Star to get an update on his recovery, his thoughts on all of the injury challenges that the Braves faced a year ago, and his outlook on 2025.
GM: This Spring Training has to feel extra good for you considering how 2024 ended. We’ll talk a little bit about the team, but for you personally, the season ended a lot sooner than you wanted it to. How’s everything going with the hand and how are you feeling coming to camp this year?
AR: “I’m feeling really good. I would say that the ideal scenario was being back sometime in the playoffs, but it took a little bit longer healing. I ended up being in a cast for 14 weeks, but I’ve had no setbacks. Everything is good. I’m feeling good and I’ve got my strength back. Mobility is there. I’ve gone through all my hitting progressions, so I’m basically a free man, if you want to call it that, from that side of it. But I feel good and I’m looking forward to this year and really getting after it. I don’t think I’ve ever had this long of a stretch of a break without any baseball. So, I’m excited.”
GM: I overheard you saying that no surgery was required and you were able to let it heal naturally. I’m assuming that’s the best-case scenario, even though you had to be in the cast for so long?
AR: “Oh, yeah. That’s definitely the best-case scenario. You don’t ever want to get cut on. The healing process was slower than I anticipated, but like I said, it was the best-case scenario and I didn’t have surgery. Everything healed up fine. My hand feels like my left hand, which is good. I’m ready to rock.”
GM: You’ve got to have both of those hands to go out and do the things you want to do, for sure. Now, I know that the 2024 Braves are a chapter that a lot of guys would like to close for a variety of reasons. We just talked about one of them. You had to go through an injury and that was part and parcel for a lot of this roster. It was one of the most challenging seasons I can remember. I have never seen a team that was tested the way you guys were last year. What does that experience bring into this year for the group, individually, whatever it may be, knowing that you can go through that sort of thing and come out the other side, and still find your way into the postseason?
AR: “I think it’s really a true testament that we’re a really good baseball team. Alex (Anthopoulos) was able to piece some stuff together to give us a chance. I just think the biggest things you can take out of 2024 is that we never stopped fighting and not to take anything for granted. Like you said, it’s a crazy game that we play and the name of the game is staying healthy. I think if there’s anything we can take from 2024 moving into 2025 is that I would like to see us just continue that fight. If we can have guys healthy and have that dog in the fight, I really like where we’ll be.”
GM: Well, a lot of guys are coming back healthy this spring. Ronald Acuña Jr. is running around and looks awfully good. How special will it be to have Ronald back at the top of the lineup and doing the kind of things he can do for you guys?
AR: “I always say that you can’t replace an MVP. The caliber player that he is, what he does at the top of the lineup, whenever he’s there it seems like every time I come up to bat that he’s either on second or third. That allows me to drive in runs and other guys down the lineup too as well. I think having him back when he gets here is just going to make our lineup deeper. I think it’s nothing but upside.
GM: Over the winter, adding Jurickson Profar was meaningful for the Atlanta Braves. Obviously, all 30 teams make their moves, doing different levels of adding. There’s what the Dodgers are doing. There’s what the Mets have done in the division. You see different players going to different places. Some teams are loading up, but as you and I both know, the game is not played on paper. There’s no trophy for the winter. How confident is this Braves team with the 26 guys that you’ll go north with and all of the quantity and quality that you’ll need organizationally to accomplish the things you guys want to do this year?
AR: “I’m super confident. The reason is just because, one, I know we have a really good lineup and we’re deep. I’ve never not trusted Alex. He’s always working and trying to make the team better. So, I have no questions whatsoever. Like you said, what matters is between the lines. It’s a long season and anything can happen. I always look back to 2021, when we won the World Series. We were pretty much counting ourselves out right into the last month. Next thing you know, you get hot, you get in, and you make a run. That’s the beauty of this game, I think, and what I love about it so much. You could take the best of the best against the worst of the worst some days, put them together and you never know who’s going to win. It’s a long season. I’m excited for it and it’ll be here before we know it.”