92.9 The Game Atlanta Braves insider Grant McAuley joined Dukes and Bell for his regular appearance on the show and talked about has Austin Riley found himself in a slump at crucial time for the Braves?
When asked about Austin Riley’s mini-slump.
“I don’t know if I would call it much of a slump, I mean it’s a handful of games where he’s gone 0-fer and I guess if that qualifies that’s ok but I haven’t noticed him striking out at an alarming rate. Clearly the hits aren’t coming, it’s not just he’s hit the ball hard ten or twelve times right at somebody,” McAuley said. “Right before the one for nineteen he went five for six to start the Phillies series and was the only guy hitting, so baseball’s weird sometimes. You have a couple of hot games, three or four cold games and then back and forth.”
McAuley talked about the slow second half of the season that Riley has had.
“I think the larger picture for Austin has been what kind of impact can he make offensively in the last couple of months because his first half was certainly all-star worthy I think he was making an argument to be one of the top five, if not top three in the MVP voting. And all of a sudden in August and September that conversation has dwindled down because his production simply hasn’t been there. So he’s one of several guys that I feel like is not necessarily hitting on all cylinders right now as the phrase may go.”