Austin Riley made a strong case to win the NL MVP last year. This year he's making an even stronger one. Last year, Riley was climbing an uphill battle. 2021 served as a breakout year, but with the rough Braves' start to the 2021 season and going up against a house hold name like Bryce Harper, one can make sense of why he was not awarded the honor then. Now, its a different story.
The Braves got off to another disappointing start but have since turned around their season and are now only a half game behind the Mets. One of the only consistent bright spots for this team has been Riley.
Sneaking on to the All-Star Team, though some would argue he should have been selected from the beginning, will help with the name recognition and becoming a face that fans and voters are used to seeing.
His numbers for the entire season have been good, but not as eye popping as some of the other in contention for the MVP. However, since June there Austin Riley has arguably been the best player in the NL.
What has he done since June? Well, he's currently on a 16-game hitting streak and he owns the second highest fWR, at 1.5, in the NL. During that time he is first in HRs, slugging %, OPS, hits, and extra base hits. That pace would make him a 16-win player over an entire season. He's also knocked in 20 runs and scored 18 more, both of which are second in the entire MLB during the time frame.
One other factor that favors Riley is that he doesn't have to compete with a teammate for the award. Teammates like Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, of the St. Louis Cardinals, and Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman of the Los Angeles Dodgers, could end up taking votes away from one another when its decision time.
Riley was the Cinderella story last year, now he's the dark horse, but his shot to win the NL MVP is a real as ever.
