The Braves announced that third baseman Austin Riley was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a strained right abdomen. Right-hander Nathan Wiles was also optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett, and the two open roster spots will be filled by infielder Nacho Alvarez Jr. (called up from Gwinnett) and southpaw Joey Wentz (claimed off waivers yesterday from the Twins).
Riley was in the starting lineup for yesterday’s 6-5 Braves win over the Cardinals before his injury forced an early exit from the game in the fourth inning. Manager Brian Snitker told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Chad Bishop that he thought Riley hurt himself while making an infield throw, and the team decided to make a precautionary removal since Riley was still feeling lingering soreness.
More should be known about the third baseman’s condition when Snitker meets with reporters today, though it may not be a great sign that Riley has been so quickly placed on the IL. The fact that his injury was still termed as an abdomen strain rather than an oblique strain could be a plus, and with the All-Star break looming, the Braves may have decided to just give Riley the full 10 days off to perhaps minimize the amount of lost game time.
Missing any action is a relative rarity for Riley, who has played in 681 of a possible 741 games since the start of the 2021 season (including all 93 of Atlanta’s games this season). Riley’s durability took a hit last season, as a fractured hand on August 18 ended up bringing his 2024 campaign to a premature close.
After delivering star-level performance during the 2021-23 seasons, Riley has been more ordinary over the last two years. He has followed up his 116 wRC+ from 2024 with a 113 wRC+ in 408 plate appearances in 2025, with Riley hitting .274/.324/.441 with 14 home runs. This relatively modest production has come despite a .356 BABIP and excellent hard-contact numbers, as Riley’s longtime issues at making contact and taking walks have only worsened this season. His 6.1% walk rate is well below league average, and Riley’s 27.7% strikeout rate puts him in the eighth percentile of all batters. Both metrics would represents new career lows over a full season, as Riley had a 5.4% walk rate and 36.4K% over 297 PA in his 2019 rookie season.
The injury comes at a particularly unfortunate time for Riley, as an .891 OPS over his last 50 PA indicated that he was starting to heat up. His absence is also another blow to an underachieving Braves team that has struggled to a 41-52 record, and even if Riley does end up missing just a minimal amount of time, every game is critical as Atlanta slips further and further back in the playoff race. The Braves certainly have the appearance of being deadline sellers, though recent reports indicate that the club is only looking to move rental players (if anyone) by July 31.
Riley is enough of a lineup fixture that Luke Williams’ six innings of fill-in duty yesterday marked the first time all season that a Braves player besides Riley had lined up at the hot corner. Williams figures to get more of the work at third base while Riley is out, though Alvarez has a good deal of experience at the position in the minors. This will be Alvarez’s first taste of MLB action in 2025, and he hasn’t seen much game time at all this year, as a wrist injury and an oblique strain have limited the infielder to just 13 Triple-A appearances.
