This may be far from the best start for the Braves as a team. But for third baseman Austin Riley, the first 34 games of 2025 have been the hottest beginning to a season he’s ever had. From Opening Day (March 27) through Monday’s 4-0 win over the Reds (May 5), Riley has played in all 34 games for Atlanta. And other than perhaps his 2022 campaign, he’s never been even close to this good at this point in a season.

As of Tuesday, Riley’s 1.4 WAR so far is among the top-20 hitters in all of MLB and tied for second-most at his position, as he and Maikel Garcia trail only Boston’s Alex Bregman, who’s pacing everyone at the hot corner at 1.8. With the Braves oh-so-close to finally reaching that .500 mark (at 16-18), it’s been Riley who has remained the most consistent presence in the lineup.

After starting this season a bit slow, going just 2 for 22 in his first six games combined, Riley began to heat up during the Marlins series back in early April. And since then, it’s been a scorching run for the 28-year-old as he’s already logged 14 multi-hit games so far this season. At one point during the Phillies and Rays series last month, Riley cobbled together five consecutive multi-hit games as part of a ridiculous 11 for 23 (.478 AVG) stretch.

So just how great of a start has this been for Austin Riley? Well, as mentioned above, he’s never been better to start a season – and this is a guy that finished in the top-10 in MVP voting in each of the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Austin Riley (2025)

34 G, .291 AVG, 8 HR, 25 RBI, 131 wRC+, 1.4 WAR

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The only time Austin Riley has come close to the stat line above in his first 34 games was back in 2022, which just so happens to be his best year as a big leaguer in terms of end-of-season WAR (5.9). As a 25-year-old then, Riley came out of the gate an extra-bases machine, slugging seven homers and nine doubles as part of a .244 AVG and 127 wRC+ in that span. And it wasn’t just a great first 34 games either. Riley kept going, eventually hitting the ’22 All Star break with a whopping 27 home runs, 22 doubles and 61 RBI in his 92 first-half games (thanks to a .423 AVG and 11 HR in the month of July alone).

Of course, that type of performance wasn’t sustainable for the entire season, and Riley did cool off in the following months, hitting .241 in August and .207 in September.

So is the 2022 season perhaps an indicator of what’s to come for Riley in 2025? There are certainly similarities between the two seasons, at least in terms of his approach at the plate.

Riley is striking out more and walking less compared to his career norm, but also barreling the ball and hitting line drives at a higher rate. That makes sense, at least in theory, as maybe that means he’s hitting at his best when he’s more aggressively going after pitches, instead of looking for walks to get on base.

According to his plate discipline stats via Statcast, Riley’s current Swing% is at 51.6%, which is a career-high for him, with his second-highest coming in 2022 at 51.5%. The same goes for his Chase%: this season it’s a career-high (30.6%), with his second-highest rate coming in 2022 (30.5%).

It is promising to realize that the last time he started off this hot Riley ended up putting together the best season of his major league career, and right now, he’s hitting even better through his first 34 games. The early signs are definitely positive, considering Riley ranks among the top-90 percentile in just about every batting metric available on Baseball Savant: things like Barrel% (19.8), Hard-Hit% (53.1), LA Sweet-Spot% (44.8) and Bat Speed (75.8). Not to mention, to go with his prolific-as-usual hitting, Riley is also in the top 93 percentile in OAA for defense, to go with a Fielding Run Value of 2 (tied for third-best among MLB third basemen).

Who knows how long Austin Riley can keep this up. Three seasons ago, he raked for essentially four months before coming back to earth a bit. Maybe, as a more experienced big league hitter now, he knows how to sustain this type of success longer.

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Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire

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