The Atlanta Braves made it official on Thursday. Austin Riley will not play another game this year.
The star third baseman underwent core injury surgery, shutting him down for the rest of the year. The silver lining? He’s expected to be ready for spring training in 2026. Riley was already parked on the 10-day IL with an abdominal strain, and he’ll eventually move to the 60-day IL once the Braves need the roster spot.
In the short term, the impact is minimal. Atlanta is playing out the string of a season gone sideways. Sitting at 58-69 and nearly 10 games out of the playoff hunt, this isn’t about October baseball. It’s about the future. And that’s where things get a little more complicated.
Atlanta’s Star Once Felt Indestructible
This marks the second straight year Riley has ended his season on the shelf. In 2024, he was lost in mid-August after a fastball fractured his hand. Now, another year, another injury—and this time surgery. That’s not the kind of trendline Atlanta fans want to see for one of the franchise’s cornerstone bats.
From 2021 through 2023, Riley was an ironman. At least 159 games every year. A consistent force in the lineup. A .286/.354/.525 slash line over those three seasons with a 136 wRC+. By the numbers, he was a legitimate star—FanGraphs credited him with over 5 wins above replacement in each of those years. That’s MVP-level consistency.
But the last two seasons have told a different story. Before breaking his hand in 2024, he was good, not great—.256/.322/.461 with a 114 wRC+. Still better than league average, sure, but not the wrecking ball Braves fans had grown used to. And this year? He never looked quite right. Multiple IL stints for abdominal issues, and now a surgery to top it off. His final line for 2025: .260/.309/.428, 103 wRC+. Basically league average.
What It Means for the Braves’ Future
That’s the concern. Not just that the Braves are limping to the finish line this season, but that their core—quite literally in Riley’s case—is showing cracks. The front office locked him in long-term with that 10-year, $212 million deal running through 2033.
When healthy, he’s worth every penny. But with back-to-back lost seasons, Atlanta has to simply cross its fingers that surgery resets the clock and 2026 Riley looks a lot more like 2021-2023 Riley than the injury-prone version of the past two years.
In the meantime, the roster shuffle keeps moving. Atlanta confirmed the claim of right-hander Cal Quantrill (with Dane Dunning optioned), activated waiver pickup Jake Fraley, and recalled lefty Dylan Dodd. Outfielder Connor Seabold was optioned to Triple-A, and infielder Luke Williams hit the IL with a strained oblique.
So yes, Atlanta’s 2025 is done and dusted. But the real storyline isn’t the roster moves—it’s whether Austin Riley, once the rock of the lineup, can get his body right and return as the player who anchored this franchise for three straight seasons. That answer won’t come until spring.
