Atlanta Braves: Could Austin Riley be overtaking Johan Camargo at third?

There seems to be a lot more momentum lately for Austin Riley starting the season as the third baseman for the Atlanta Braves.

Perhaps it’s that spring training optimism taking over, but it’s starting to feel like there is more momentum for Austin Riley winning the third base job for the Atlanta Braves over Johan Camargo.

Just last week I wrote about how Camargo was still the favorite, but a lot can change in a week.

And it’s not like Camargo has taken a step back, he’s still hitting .304 this spring with a home run and a double.

But Riley had a good week going 3-for-10 with 2 home runs and a double bringing his spring training totals to .304 and he’s struck out just 5 times in 23 at-bats with a walk.

Plus, he’s looked really solid defensively at third base.

During the broadcast on Saturday against the Boston Red Sox, Chipper Jones said he thinks Riley can be just as good as he was at third base (defensively).

That’s certainly high praise for the 22-year-old as we all know Chipper was a Gold Glove-caliber defender at third base and should have won at least one (in either 2007 or 2008).

And as Chipper also points out in the article, having Riley in the lineup just makes it much more dangerous having someone down in the lineup that can go yard at any moment.

It’s been my hope from the beginning that Riley shows a lot of improvement in spring training and wins the job as I do think having his bat in the lineup makes a huge difference.