ATLANTA, GEORGIA – OCTOBER 16: Austin Riley #27 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates after hitting a solo home run off Tony Gonsolin #26 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (not pictured) during the fourth inning of Game One of the National League Championship Series at Truist Park on October 16, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley got revenge on the Brewers in the best way.
Earlier in Riley’s at-bat, he had a ground ball to third base go just foul. Brewers catcher Victor Caratini created a perimeter around the baseball, forbidding any Milwaukee infielder from picking it up.
While those tactics are completely fine and good, Caratini must’ve been confident that Corbin Burnes would get Riley out later in the at-bat. As you’ll see in the video below, that was simply not the case.
Riley, to the moon!
The 25-year-old’s home run went a projected 429 feet at a 28 degree launch angle and had an exit velocity of 106.2 mph. In other words, that ball was hit very hard and very fast. The end result? The ball went very far. How’s that for analysis?
Braves: Austin Riley makes Brewers pay
Riley is hitting just .237 this season, and recently lost his arbitration case to the Braves. It’s been a rough couple of weeks.
Riley isn’t getting many barrels on the ball, as his strikeout rate is a career-high 26.1 percent. His ground ball rate is 48.4 percent, and his line drive rate is just 17.9 percent. Those are also career worsts.
Perhaps he’ll find a way out of said slump, but considering we’re already in mid-May, it looks to be indicative of another problem entirely.
Hopefully, for the Braves’ sake, this three-run bomb will help snap him out of it.