Prospect makes big jump in rankings

Third baseman Riley moves up 12 spots on MLB Pipeline list.

MLB Pipeline released an early-season update of its Top 100 prospects list Tuesday, and one of the adjustments involved Braves third-base prospect Austin Riley.

He’s now rated as baseball’s No. 80 prospect, up 12 spots from No. 92 before the season, by MLB Pipeline, which is part of MLB.com.

What it means

What jumped out about Riley in the report wasn’t the ranking; it was the assessment of how close he might be to being big league ready.

“His power has always been obvious, and now that he’s improving as a hitter and a defender, he might be ready for Atlanta by midseason,” MLB.com’s Jim Callis wrote.

In Triple-A

Riley, 21, was promoted this week from Double-A Mississippi to Triple-A Gwinnett. He hit .333 with six home runs, a .394 on-base percentage and a .677 slugging percentage in 99 at-bats at Mississippi this season. He went 1 for 5 with a single and three strikeouts in his first game at Gwinnett on Monday night and 2 for 4 with a single, a double, an RBI and no strikeouts in his second game Tuesday night.

The youngsters

On MLB Pipeline’s Top 100, the Braves have eight representatives: Ronald Acuna at No. 2, Kyle Wright at No. 28, Mike Soroka at No. 29, Luiz Gohara at No. 47, Ian Anderson at No. 49, Kolby Allard at No. 56, Riley at No. 80 and Max Fried at No. 84. All except Acuna and Riley are pitchers. Three of the eight are currently on the Braves: Acuna, Soroka and Gohara. Acuna is ranked behind only the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani.

Austin Riley was promoted from Double-A Mississippi to Triple-A Gwinnett this week.