Austin Riley

Michael Austin Riley (born April 2, 1997) is an American professional baseball third baseman for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB).

The Braves selected him in the first round, 41st overall, of the 2015 MLB Draft.

Born in Memphis and raised in Mississippi, Riley played football and baseball at DeSoto Central High School.

A star pitcher and third baseman in high school, Riley originally committed to play college baseball at Mississippi State University, before being drafted by the Braves and opting to forgo a college baseball career.

Riley made his minor league debut in 2015 with the Gulf Coast Braves and would spend the next several seasons in the Braves farm system.

Riley was committed to play for the Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team until he was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 2015.

MSU had also offered Riley the chance to play football for the Bulldogs as a punter.

The Atlanta Braves selected Riley in the first round, with the 41st overall selection, in the 2015 MLB draft.

Though he was committed to Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team, Riley chose to sign with the Braves for $1.6 million.

Riley made his professional debut with the Gulf Coast Braves that season.

After 30 games, he was promoted to the Danville Braves in the Appalachian League.

Overall in 60 games he batted .304/.389/.544 with 12 home runs over 217 at-bats, while on defense he committed 16 errors for a .908 fielding percentage.

In 2016, Riley played for the Rome Braves of the Class A South Atlantic League.

he batted .271/.324/.479.

On defense, he committed 30 errors at third base.

The Braves invited Riley to spring training as a non-roster player in 2017.

He began the 2017 season with the Florida Fire Frogs of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League.

He was promoted to the Mississippi Braves of the Class AA Southern League in July.

In 129 games between Florida and Mississippi, Riley hit .275/.339/.446 with 20 home runs and 74 RBIs, while on defense he committed 20 errors at third base.

He was assigned to the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League at the end of the minor league regular season.

Prior to the start of the 2018 season, Riley received an invitation to spring training.

He was ranked among the top prospects in the minor leagues prior to the season.

He began 2018 with Mississippi, and after batting .333 with six home runs and 20 RBIs in 27 games, and was promoted to the Gwinnett Stripers in May.

In 75 games with Gwinnett, he hit .282/.346/.464/.810 with 12 home runs and 47 RBI.

Riley made his MLB debut with the Braves in 2019.

He would soon emerge as a star, winning a Silver Slugger Award in 2021, as well as that year's World Series.

Following a strong start to the 2022 season, Riley signed a franchise-record ten-year contract extension worth $212 million.

Austin Riley is the eldest son of Mike and Elisa Riley.

Riley attended DeSoto Central High School in Southaven, Mississippi, where he played baseball as a shortstop and pitcher.

Riley played American football as a quarterback during his freshman and sophomore years in high school.

Though he expressed a desire to quit football and focus on baseball, the football coach chose to retain Riley as a punter, a position his father had played at Mississippi State University.

He opened the 2019 season with Gwinnett.

On May 15, 2019, Riley was called up to the Atlanta Braves prior to their game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Riley was promoted after Ender Inciarte was placed on the injured list.

He made his major league debut that night and, in his second at bat, hit a home run off Michael Wacha.

On May 29, 2019, Riley, despite a 14-4 blowout loss to the Nationals, hit his first career grand slam, marking his seventh home run in fourteen career games and bringing his RBI total to twenty.

At the time, his seven home runs in fourteen games were the second most to begin a career, trailing only Trevor Story (Aristides Aquino has since passed them both with nine).

On June 1, he hit his eighth home run in 16 games, becoming the fourth player in major league baseball history to achieve this feat.

He was also the fastest player in Braves franchise history to do so.

Riley earned the NL Rookie of the Month Award for May 2019, despite only playing in 15 games.