Austin Riley is the eldest son of parents Mike and Elisa Riley. Riley attended DeSoto Central High School, where he played baseball as a shortstop and pitcher. Riley was committed to play for the Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team until he was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 2015.
Career
Riley was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the first round, with the 41st overall selection, in 2015 MLB draft out of DeSoto Central High School in Southaven, Mississippi. 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. Prior to starting the 2017 season with the Florida Fire Frogs, Riley spent some time in spring training with the Atlanta Braves. He was promoted to the Mississippi Braves in July. In 129 games between Florida and Mississippi, Riley hit.275/.339/.446 with 20 home runs and 74 RBIs, and 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. He opened the 2019 season with Gwinnett. On May 15, 2019, Austin 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. On June 1, he hit his eighth home run in sixteen 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. August 8, 2019 Austin was placed on the 10 day IL due to a right knee sprain retroactive to August 5, 2019. It was later revealed that Riley had a partial tear in his lateral collateral ligament that was sustained while working out. Riley began a rehab assignment on August 22 with the Rome Braves and as of September 1 was continuing to rehab with the Gwinnett Stripers.
