Henry Roldán
In the midst of another great offensive season, Austin Riley earned a historic reward by signing a multi-million dollar contract extension with the Atlanta Braves.
According to the team’s own announcement on Monday, the organization reached an agreement with the third baseman for the next ten seasons and $212 million dollars, an extension that translates into the most expensive deal in the Braves’ history.
Thanks to this, Austin Riley will stay in Atlanta until at least 2032, as the ninth has an option to keep him for the 2033 season for an additional $20 million. In the same communiqué, it was also announced that the baseball player agreed to donate $2.21 million to the team’s Foundation.
How he plays the game and the consistency with which he does everything, is unbelievable. He does everything right and checks all the boxes to be that guy.
Braves manager Brian Snitker to MLB.com on Riley
Riley is currently playing his fourth season in the Major Leagues with the Braves, a team that decided not to wait until 2025 when he would become a free agent to sign him and make sure to have an important core of players at least until 2027.
Austin Riley’s Impressive Numbers With Atlanta Braves
While much was expected of Austin Riley in the minors, his numbers in his first two seasons with the big team were not dazzling– something that changed from heaven to earth last season, when he won the Silver Slugger and finished seventh in the National MVP voting.
After that great performance, Atlanta didn’t know if he would be able to repeat it in 2022, and boy, has he done it. In addition to being called to the All-Star Game, Riley had an incredible month of July to the point that he is already being considered to fight with Paul Goldschmidt for the MVP of the old circuit .
The 25-year-old hit for a .423/.459/.885 offensive line with 11 home runs and 15 doubles, breaking Hank Aaron’s franchise record for most extra-base hits in a month .
Riley began Monday as the Nationals’ SLG leader at .604, as well as second in OPS behind Goldschmidt at .964. Likewise, no one in the circuit has more bases reached than the 239 he has reached, while accumulating 29 home runs, 68 towers and a .301 average.
