92.9 the Game Atlanta Braves Insider Joe Patrick joined Dukes & Bell Friday to talk about the Braves series this weekend against the Phillies, what to expect from Cristian Pache, and the curious case of Austin Riley.
Patrick talked about what is going on with Riley.
“He’s such a fascinating case because last year he obviously had his well-documented struggles hitting a breaking ball and this year he’s had a little bit of success actually hitting a breaking ball. The fastball has been the one that kind of freezes him, maybe because he’s looking for the off-speed stuff,” Patrick said.
“The good news, when it comes to Riley, is it does feel like maybe he’s on the precipice of turning things into a positive direction. He had an RBI single earlier in the week, and that kind of broke a long duck for him and he gave a fist pump on his way to first base almost like he had figured something out. He hit a hard line drive up the middle and then the next game he had another couple of hard hits and an RBI, so you hope that’s the kind of thing to get him going in the right direction.”