Austin Riley Voices Frustration With His Slow Start to the 2026 Season

Austin Riley was visibly fed up with himself after the Atlanta Braves dropped a 2-1 game to the Washington Nationals on Sunday afternoon at Truist Park.

The 29-year-old third baseman, who signed a 10-year, $212 million extension in 2022 that made him the highest-paid player in franchise history, has not really looked like himself for most of 2026, and he came out and said as much when reporters caught him at his locker.

"Let's see some consistency," Riley said. "This game is about being consistent. I'd like to get there. Not have one good day and then take two steps back kind of deal. Let's get on a run of consistency."

Through 54 games, Riley is hitting .223 with eight home runs and a .673 OPS, numbers that would have looked rough during one bad week for him in 2022 but somehow represent the bulk of his 2026 to this point.

The two-time Silver Slugger has spent most of the year fighting his swing, and Atlanta's offense went silent over the final two games of the weekend, stringing together 17 straight scoreless innings as the Nationals took the series.

Riley was a huge part of Atlanta's lineup during the 2021 World Series run and earned All-Star nods in 2022 and 2023, when he hit 38 and 37 home runs.

This is really a continuation of what happened in late 2024, when his bat cooled off down the stretch before the slump rolled into the new season.

He is still drawing walks and his glove is still doing its job at third, but the power and the average have not come around yet.

There is real reason for Atlanta to feel okay here.

Over the past month, Riley has slashed .254/.301/.507 with five home runs and 14 RBI in 18 games, which is the closest he has looked to himself all season.

He led off the ninth inning on Sunday with a single, one of his two hits in the game, and was part of the rally that fell apart when Ronald Acuña Jr. grounded out to end it.

The recent precedent works in his favor as well, because he had a .653 OPS through his first 54 games of 2024, almost identical to where he sits now, and then went off for .283 with 15 home runs and a .913 OPS the rest of the way.

With the Braves rolling at 36-18 and sitting comfortably on top of the National League East, the team has handled his slow start as well as anyone reasonably could.

They are still second in the majors in runs scored, and the lineup looks like a legitimate World Series threat.

If Riley keeps trending the way he has in May, this lineup goes from already dangerous to genuinely scary.