Braves Given Strong Future Outlook At Third Base

The Atlanta Braves have their question marks at certain positions, but third base is far from one of them. Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter predicted that Austin Riley would be the No. 2 third baseman in baseball in 2030.

The Boston Red Sox' Marcelo Mayer, who is currently still with Triple-A Worcester, is ranked ahead of Riley for the top spot on the list.

Reuter is confident that the 28-year-old first baseman "should still have some prime-level performance left in the tank by the time the 2030 season rolls around."

Riley will still only be 33 years old come the next decade. That's not young, but it's an age that he can expected to still be in the latter years of his prime. For example, Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado is in his 34 season and is exiting his prime years around now.

He's already been named an All-Star twice in his career and has won two Silver Slugger Awards. His overall season numbers from last season weren't to that same level. However, he was starting to find his swing again before went down with a broken hand. In his final 57 games, he had a .292 average, a .942 OPS, 16 home runs and 36 RBIs. His season would have been viewed a bit more favorably if he had had the extra 30 games to finish the strong run.

Even this season, he had a slow start through the first seven games but has arguably looked the best he's ever had in the 31 games since. Since the Braves have won a game, he's batting .328 with a .901 OPS seven home runs and 24 RBIs. At his pace, he would finish with 32 home runs and 125 RBIs.

All these stats are great, but it needs the context of where he ranks among third baseman if we are to look into a player who is expected to be a top player at his position in five years.

Riley ranks in the top five for third baseman in the following stats: batting average (4th), home runs (3rd), RBIs (3rd), slugging (4th), OPS (4th) and hits (2nd).

He's already a top third baseman in the league and is expected to stay there. Age will also help him rise through the rankings. Many of the top third baseman currently (Jose Ramirez, Alex Bregman and Manny Machado) will be in their late 30s by then. This is a normal way of things. The old makes way for the new, or in this case, the not as old.

Including a club option, Riley is locked down until 2033, so even beyond this projection, the hot corner is good to go for well into the next decade let along until the end of the current one.

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