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SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 27: Austin Riley #27 of the Atlanta Braves hits a home run against the San Diego Padres on Opening Day at Petco Park on March 27, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
On Friday night, the Atlanta Braves<\/a> played the Cleveland Guardians<\/a> (in Georgia).<\/p>\n The Braves won by a score of 11-5.<\/p>\n Austin Riley<\/a> has had a very slow start to the season, but he had a strong performance with two hits, one walk and one RBI in four at-bats.<\/p>\n Atlanta Braves Still Owe Riley A Lot Of Money GettyAustin Riley #27 of the Atlanta Braves hits a single during the sixth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Truist Park on April 10, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia.<\/p>\n Riley was once among the best young stars in the MLB<\/a>.<\/p>\n That said, the 29-year-old is currently batting .224 with 12 strikeouts in his first 14 games of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth noting that the Braves still owe<\/a> Riley $22 million per year through the end of the 2032 season (there is a club option for the 2033 season).<\/p>\n ESPN\u2019s Jeff Passan wrote (on August 1, 2022):<\/a> \u201cThird baseman Austin Riley and the Atlanta Braves are in agreement on a 10-year, $212 million contract extension, the Braves announced.\u201d<\/p>\n GettyAustin Riley #27 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates after hitting a two-run home run in the eighth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> during Game Two of the Division Series at Truist Park on October 09, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia.<\/p>\n Riley\u2019s MLB Career GettyAustin Riley #27 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates a run against the Los Angeles Angels<\/a> in the third inning at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on April 08, 2026 in Anaheim, California.<\/p>\n Riley was the 41st pick in the 2015 MLB Draft.<\/p>\n He has spent all eight years of his career playing for the Braves.<\/p>\n In 2021, Riley batted .303 with 33 home runs, 107 RBI\u2019s and 91 runs in 160 games.<\/p>\n The Braves also won the World Series Championship that year.<\/p>\n GettyAustin Riley #27 of the Atlanta Braves rounds the bases after hitting a second inning home run against the Miami Marlins<\/a> at SunTrust Park on July 6, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia.<\/p>\n Riley made back-to-back All-Star Games in 2022 and 2023 when he hit 75 total home runs across the two seasons.<\/p>\n That said, he has struggled in a big way over the last two years.<\/p>\n The two-time Silver Slugger has been unable to hit 20 home runs in either season.<\/p>\n @discussbaseball wrote (on April 7):<\/a> \u201cAustin Riley is a player I just can\u2019t give up on. I\u2019m not sure what it is. Through 42 PAs \u2014 .162 BA, 37 wRC+, -0.1 fWAR. Not slugging despite elite bat speed. Holding on hope.\u201d<\/p>\n GettyAustin Riley #27 of the Atlanta Braves hits a home run in the seventh inning against the Kansas City Royals<\/a> at Kauffman Stadium on July 28, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri.<\/p>\n Braves Right Now<\/p>\n The Braves are off to a good start to the year with a 9-5 record in their first 14 games, which has them at the top of the National League East.<\/p>\n They are 5-2 in seven games at home.<\/p>\n Following two more games against the Guardians, the Braves will host the Miami Marlins on Monday.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tBen Stinar<\/a> Ben Stinar has been covering the NBA for over seven years.\u00a0
\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Braves\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 27: Austin Riley #27 of the Atlanta Braves hits a home run…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2394],"tags":[191,46,4166,5,192,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-673206","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-braves","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-braves","10":"tag-atlantabraves","11":"tag-baseball","12":"tag-braves","13":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116385726296350826","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2270791415.jpg\")
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\nHe has written for OnSI, Forbes, Amico Hoops, The Big Lead and had a podcast with former All-Star Jameer Nelson. More about Ben Stinar<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n