Austin Riley’s Spectacular July Shoots Him Closer to Paul Goldschmidt in NL MVP Race
Nobody had the July that Austin Riley of the Atlanta Braves had.
In fact, nobody has had as good of a month in the past two decades.
He became the first player since Richard Hidalgo in September 2000 to record a batting average of .420+, while also have 26+ XBH.
Austin Riley becomes just the 7th player since 1901 to hit .420+ and have 26+ XBH in a single month, becoming the 1st to do since Richard Hidalgo in Sept. 2000!
— Greg Harvey (@BetweenTheNums) July 31, 2022
The other 5: Joe DiMaggio (1937), Chuck Klein (1930), Chick Hafey (1928), Babe Ruth (1924), & Tris Speaker (1923) ‼️ pic.twitter.com/wrq1yA9SPB
As a result, his odds to win the NL MVP award have sky-rocketed. Let's take a look.
Austin Riley NL MVP Odds
Paul Goldschmidt is still the (understandable) betting favorite to win the National League MVP at -155, but Austin Riley has shot up the odds list.
Per VegasInsider, he is now tied for second on the odds list, alongside Freddie Freeman, at +800. He was listed at +1600 less than two weeks ago.
Odds to win the NL MVP Award 🏆
— VegasInsider (@VegasInsider) August 1, 2022
- Paul Goldschmidt -155
- Freddie Freeman +800
- Austin Riley +800
- Mookie Betts +1100
- Manny Machado +1200
- Pete Alonso +1500
- Trea Turner +2000
- Nolan Arenado +2500
Full list 🔗 https://t.co/pi9RUvoAX2 pic.twitter.com/Hbet61mSg3
Unfortunately for Riley, you need more than one stellar month to be named the league's MVP.
His season-long batting average is .301, which is still below Goldschmidt's leading mark of .329. He also ranked below him in on base percentage (.360 to .409) and OPS (.964 to 1.011).
He does have more home runs than the Cardinals' first baseman, racking up 29 on the year so far, compared to Goldschmidt at 24.
Riley still has time to catch up to him, and if he can continue July's success, look for the NL MVP race to tighten as we move through August.
You can track Iain's bets on Betstamp here.