Atlanta Braves use 5th round draft pick on Trey Riley RHP John A Logan College

This draft just keeps getting better as the Atlanta Braves took Trey Riley out of an Illinois JUCO in the fifth round. To give you an idea, before today I wrote a piece about 10 guys the Braves should take in the third round if they didn’t lose their pick- and Riley made that list.

Who is He?

Trey Riley is a 6’2” and 175 pound right handed pitcher from John A. Logan Community College in Illinois. The JUCO star is committed to Missouri State for next year if he wasn’t going pro.

Where Does He Rank?

MLB.com 76th

Baseball America 80th

Keith Law Unranked

Perfect Game 61st

Talking Chop 69th

Why Was He the Pick?

Trey Riley comes from a cold weather background, is athletic, and also has some projection remaining. It’s important to remember that when you consider he has two plus pitches. His fastball that sits in the 92-95 range and bumps up to 97 MPH is his main offering, but his hard slider is also very much a plus pitch already with late action.

Riley does need some work. He’s going to need to really improve his changeup, and probably needs to tweak his delivery a bit. However he’s a very competitive pitcher with plenty of room left to grow and already has a pair of pitches that give him a high floor as a potential reliever should starting not work out for him.

How Should We Feel About Him?

If it wasn’t already obvious, I love this pick. It probably limits the spending ability going forward, but a cold weather, high upside arm like Riley is a perfect fit in the Braves organization.