Atlanta Braves 3B prospect Austin Riley hits 3 long ones for Gwinnett

Even as Jose Bautista is starting to lose playing time, the next Braves third baseman is already trying to push that decision.

In an afternoon Mother’s Day contest against the Norfolk Tides today – the Mets – former Atlanta Brave Peter Bourjos went 2 for 5 (including a triple) and scored twice, raising his AAA average to .308.  Danny Santana had a nice day also with a pair of doubles, a triple of his own, and scored twice.  Gwinnett won 10-0.

All Austin Riley did was to slug 3 home runs as part of an 8 RBI, 4-for-5 day.

That takes him to .345 in 7 AAA games (29 AB) and .336 for the year (34 games, 128 AB) with 11 doubles, 3 triples, and 9 homers – 23 extra base hits.

This was after Brian Snitker suggested on Saturday that he’d have no hesitation in promoting Riley to the majors… should the need arise.

So now you’d have to think that perhaps the watch is on.  Why?  Ignoring Riley’s hitting line today, there’s this:

• Jose Bautista is now hitting .160.  Sure – that includes a home run on Saturday evening, but he’s looked over-matched at the plate, getting worse as time passes.  He’s now 1 for his last 17 and not nearly the protection for Freddie Freeman as had been hoped and his defense… honestly, even Freeman looked more comfortable at third.
• Ryan Flaherty has certainly looked a lot better defensively and while he’s been holding his own at the plate, he is now 1 for his last 10 plate appearances… which brings us to recall that the Braves hired Bautista because they wanted more.
• Likewise, Johan Camargo is on the skids:  while he did single today, that’s been rare.  He has dropped to .196 after going 4 for his last 41 PAs, though with a few walks mixed in.

There has been no word on Dansby Swanson‘s status, though once he is able to return a decision will have to be made.

Right now, it seems that the best infield the Atlanta Braves could deploy – offensively and defensively – is probably Freeman/Albies/Swanson and Riley, with Flaherty and somebody else available on the bench.  Perhaps Bautista and Camargo could do Rock-Paper-Scissors to decide which one of that pair sticks around for the Summer.

In the meantime, let’s just enjoy some hitting – 2 of Riley’s homers today.  These were not exactly fence-scrapers.  Many thanks to @gvegak for capturing and posting these on twitter:

UPDATE:  Better video from the Stripers…

https://twitter.com/GoStripers/status/995793449260605440

Next: Newcomb silences bats again

Riley isn’t going to be promoted tomorrow… or even next week.  But if the trends continue – all of them – you could see the Braves being forced to make a move by the All-Star Break.