Atlanta Braves: Austin Riley finally gets his shot — what can we expect

Late Tuesday night it was reported that Austin Riley will be called up to join the Atlanta Braves for Wednesday’s game against the Cardinals.

The time that Atlanta Braves fans have been waiting for is finally here as reports indicate that Austin Riley will make his Major League debut on Wednesday.

The Braves top-ranked position prospect has been on an absolute tear in Triple-A with 15 home runs on the season already, including a grand slam on Tuesday.

After Ender Inciarte left Tuesday’s game with an injury, it became pretty clear that Austin Riley would get his chance in the big leagues.

The Atlanta Braves and their fans have been waiting for a move like this to pump some enthusiasm into the team.

But let’s not put too much pressure on a 22-year-old who will likely be playing out of position in left field.

Riley is primarily a third baseman, but he’s started a few games in the outfield for Gwinnett recently. And one would think that’s where he plays for the Atlanta Braves.

What should we expect?

I’m probably not the best person to write this article because I’ve been critical of Austin Riley in the past and even suggested that we use him as trade bait in a big deal for a frontline starter. If I were in charge I would have shipped him off to Miami for J.T. Realmuto.

The last thing I want to do is put unrealistic expectations on this kid.

He’s obviously in a groove at Triple-A right now, and you hope he takes that same approach to the big leagues and doesn’t try to do too much.

I think the two main things we can expect from Riley are home runs and strikeouts. That’s what his track record has been in the Minor Leagues.

In his career, he’s struck out 28 percent of the time, but he’s reduced that number this season to just 21 percent.

And he’s hit a home run every 20 at-bats in his career, but that number has been cut in half to every 10 at-bats so far in 2019.

Obviously the kid is doing something right at the plate, and you just hope he carries that into the big leagues.

And I don’t want it to sound like Riley is an all-or-nothing guy, he has a career average of .284 in the minors with a .350 OBP to go along with a .505 SLG and .854 OPS.

My biggest concern, other than the strikeouts, is obviously his ability to play left field. He hasn’t spent much time there, and I keep having visions of Kyle Schwarber trying to play in the outfield, which is a great comparison for Riley.

I think we may see Donaldson get a few games off while Riley is up so he can start at third.

But one thing is for sure, if the Atlanta Braves are going to call up Riley — especially with the way he’s swinging the bat right now — he better play every day.

This is obviously an exciting time for Braves fans, and I just hope Riley is the spark that this offense needs to get going.