The Braves lost third baseman Austin Riley for at least the rest of the regular season. He was hit in the right hand by Angels pitcher Jack Kochanowicz, breaking the appendage.

This latest injury leaves the Braves with a big hole in their lineup. The trade deadline has passed, and they don’t have many viable options in their organization to fill the void.

Riley hit 37 homers last season. He has 153 homers for Atlanta since his big league debut in 2019.

Luke Williams, who is just 2 of 17 on the season, took over Sunday at third base after Riley was injured but hardly seems like a full-time option. The Braves could move Whit Merrifield, currently filling in at second base for Albies, over to third and give another shot to top prospect Nacho Alvarez.

Alvarez, however, was just 3 for 30 as the first choice to replace Albies, leading the Braves to return him to Triple-A Gwinnett.

ESPN.com

The Braves had a remarkable run, but their season and that of the Dodgers shows the fragility of even great teams. All those years at the top means less high level talent in the minor leagues, as big winners get low draft choices.

If you look at the Braves roster at FanGraphs, you’ll see that they have no young third basemen in the high minors. You would think one of them would be playing decently, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. The Braves may want to figure who will give them the best defense at the hot corner and just live with it.