Atlanta Braves third base prospect Austin Riley absolutely destroys a ball to the opposite field
By Jeff Schafer
Braves Riley hits a moonshot…oppo!
The 2018 Atlanta Braves lineup has a glaring missing part…not a lot of power. If top prospect Ronald Acuna doesn’t make the Opening Day roster, the Braves would have even less. Plus, we can’t put too much pressure on Acuna to even bring a lot of power.
Behind Freddie Freeman, the Braves will have Tyler Flowers and Nick Markakis. In his nine year career in the MLB, Flowers has 66 homers — 12 of which came in 2017. Over Markakis’ 12 year career, he has 165 — but only 24 in the past three seasons (eight in 2017).
Power or the threat of power is obviously missing as of now in this lineup. But I believe things will begin to change.
The addition of Acuna will help bring some pop, but on his way to the Atlanta Braves is Austin Riley. The 20-year-old has already smashed 52 home runs in his three seasons in the minors and in the fall leagues.
He’s a big dude too. 6’3″ 220-pounds of a manly-man…a tree stump, sort of speak.
On Thursday, Riley hit a moonshot off Detroit Tigers pitcher Gerson Moreno in the 6th inning.
The 2018 Spring Training hasn’t started off great for Riley — that was his first hit this spring as he’s 1 for 11 at the plate with four strikeouts and two walks.
Riley has the bat and it’s going to be good, but his defense was always the question mark. Good news out of camp is that manager Brian Snitker has told reporters that his defense has improved.
The big debate if Riley continues to hit in 2018 will be what do the Braves need to do next offseason. Will they go shopping for a big name like Josh Donaldson or Manny Machado? Or will they see enough from Riley to give him the reigns in 2019?
Here’s a good interview with Riley and the guys from FOX Sports
"They thought I had a slow bat."@Braves 3B prospect @austinriley1308 on back-to-back 20-HR seasons, the nastiest pitch he's seen in Atlanta's farm system and the best hitting advice @RealCJ10 ever gave him. pic.twitter.com/3bTQRjKAj2
— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) February 28, 2018
Riley also has received the attention of a former Brave…Chipper Jones. It sounds as though Chipper has taken the youngster under his wing and showed him a few things. Man, if Chipper is behind him, I’m behind him!
You’ll see from his tweet this afternoon that ol’ Chipper enjoyed the bomb! I believe Riley just went yicketty!!
My man! https://t.co/esOCDkQp8V
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) March 1, 2018