full speed ahead

While the Mississippi Braves’ season is sliding off the rails, Austin Riley is showing signs of getting on track at the Double-A level. The former DeSoto Central High star is 7-for-18 over his last four games, including a 3-for-5 with a homer on Friday at Trustmark Park in Pearl. The 20-year-old third baseman, listed at 6 feet 3, 220 pounds, added two more hits on Saturday, lifting his average to .256 in 22 games with the M-Braves. He has three home runs and nine RBIs. Riley, a supplemental first-round pick by Atlanta in 2015, is one of several top prospects being fast-tracked by the Braves this season. He was batting .252 with 12 homers and 47 RBIs at Florida in his first season at the high Class A level when he was promoted to Mississippi last month. The M-Braves have dropped 11 of 12 and are an unsightly 12-30 in the second half of the Southern League season, but Riley’s development is something worth watching. The M-Braves and Biloxi Shuckers hook up again today at the TeePee. … Meanwhile, the first Mississippian picked in this year’s draft, Brent Rooker of Mississippi State, seems to be settling in at the high-A level in Minnesota’s system. Rooker hit a grand slam on Saturday and extended his hitting streak to five games. After a very sluggish start at Fort Myers, Rooker is batting .197 with three homers and nine RBIs in 19 games. The SEC player of the year wore out the rookie-level Appalachian League, batting .282 with seven homers there before his promotion.