American professional baseball player Michael Austin Riley (born April 2, 1997) plays third base for the Major League Baseball (MLB) Atlanta Braves. He was chosen by the Braves with the 41st overall pick in the first round of the 2015 MLB Draft.
Riley attended DeSoto Central High School, where he played baseball and football. Riley was born in Memphis and reared in Mississippi. Riley was a standout pitcher and third baseman in high school. Prior to getting selected by the Braves and choosing not to pursue a college baseball career, Riley had planned to play baseball at Mississippi State University. Riley spent the following few seasons in the Braves farm system after making his minor league debut in 2015 with the Gulf Coast Braves.
Mike and Elisa Riley’s eldest kid is Austin Riley.[1][2][3] Riley played baseball as a pitcher and shortstop for DeSoto Central High School in Southaven, Mississippi.[4][5] Riley was a quarterback for the American football team in his freshman and sophomore years of high school. Riley wanted to stop playing football and concentrate on baseball, but his father was a punter at Mississippi State University, so the football coach decided to keep Riley in that position.[6] Riley was selected by the Atlanta Braves in 2015, but he was devoted to playing baseball with the Mississippi State Bulldogs.[7]Riley has also been given the opportunity to play punter for the Bulldogs in football at MSU [8].[6]
Riley was chosen by the Atlanta Braves with the 41st overall pick in the first round of the 2015 MLB draft.[9][10] Riley was devoted to the Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball club, but he signed a $1.6 million contract with the Braves instead.[13] That season, Riley debuted professionally with the Gulf Coast Braves. He was promoted to the Appalachian League’s Danville Braves after 30 games. He batted.304,.389, and.544 overall in 60 games with 12 home runs in 217 at-bats. On defense, he made 16 errors for a.908 fielding percentage.[14][15]
Riley was a member of the Class A South Atlantic League Rome Braves in 2016. At bat, he was.271/.324/.479. He made thirty mistakes at third base while playing defense.[16]