Earlier today, news got out that the Atlanta Braves were bringing in Cal Quantrill off waivers from the Miami Marlins. The Braves made that move official while also announcing a slew of other transactions. Let’s talk abotu those first: Cal Quantrill is with the Braves now, Jake Fraley has officially reported to Atlanta, Dylan Dodd has been recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett, Dane Dunning and Connor Seabold are heading down to Triple-A and shutdown reliever (and primary infielder) Luke Williams is heading to the IL with a strained oblique muscle. Y’all got it? Good.
Unfortunately, we can’t use the word “good” to describe the next bit of news which concerns the headliner. Austin Riley has been dealing with abdomen issues for a good long while now and after he shortly went right back on the IL for the same injury that previously sidelined him, it appears that everybody involved has decided that the best course of action is surgery. The surgery happened today in Philadelphia and Riley is out for the remainder of the season.
Austin Riley will finish the season with a .260/.309/.428 slash line, with .319 wOBA, 103 wRC+, 16 home runs and 1.7 fWAR for the season. While those are still respectable numbers for any given player, it definitely qualifies as another down season for Riley and his standards. It’s also a bummer since this is now a second season in a row that he’s seen cut short due to injury. It feels like he (and the Braves) are due for some good fortune in the future and maybe we’ll see that happen next season once Riley returns and is hopefully ready to contribute to the team in time for Opening Day.
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For now, this is just another sour moment in a season that’s been loaded with sour moments. Hopefully Austin Riley’s recovery goes smoothly and effectively and maybe we’ll see Nacho Alvarez Jr. continue to do a decent job of filling in at the hot corner for the rest of this season. The hits (and not the fun kind during baseball games) just keep on coming for Atlanta and now they have no choice but to continue to play out the string during what’s been a truly wretched season.
