February 3, 2020

Austin Riley made his debut in May amidst a wave of hot-prospect call-ups, and he came out absolutely on fire with Ender Inciarte on the shelf. The highly-touted slugger started off 8-for-15 and proceeded to hit homers in five of his first nine games played. However, his hot start gave way to an awful finish, as his final line of .226/.279/.471 can attest. He wound up with 18 home runs, 49 RBI, and 41 runs scored over 274 at-bats in his rookie season. His advanced metrics were a mixed bag. His 36.4% strikeout rate was disastrous and his 5.4% walk rate and .321 wOBA were below-average, while his 44.6% Statcast hard-hit rate (67th), 13.7% barrels per batted ball event rate (30th), and 221 feet average hit distance (6th) all ranked among the top hitters in 2019. Projection sites are all over the place for Riley as it's difficult to project his at-bats, but he currently has just Johan Camargo and Yangervis Solarte to compete with in a battle for the everyday third baseman job. It seems likely that he will receive at least 300 at-bats (at the minimum) in a stacked Atlanta Braves lineup, which has some utility from a fantasy perspective. Though he will probably tank your batting average and he doesn't pick up steals, he's in the conversation as a late-round flier with 25+ homer upside. His ADP is 255 and he's worth considering there, but be mindful as to who claims that starting role as the season draws near.--Kyle Ringstad - RotoBaller