Braves Lock Down Austin Riley With Massive 10-Year, $212 Million Deal

If ever there was a time to sign a 10-year contract extension, it's the day after the conclusion of a month in which you hit .423 with a 1.338 OPS and 26 extra-base hits — passing Hank Aaron for the most in a month in franchise history.

This just feels good, man. In the immediate aftermath of Freddie Freeman's departure, the Braves made sure to lock Matt Olson into a long-term deal and now have Austin Riley signed to a contract that sure makes it seem like he'll be a Brave for life. Good for everyone involved.

Watching Riley's progression into one of the best hitters in baseball over the last 15 months or so has been amazing. He had a stretch where it looked iffy as to what kind of player he was going to turn into, but the last two seasons have put any doubt to rest. He was a legitimate MVP candidate last year and is at the very worst third in the running right now, though if he keeps up half the pace he's been on recently, he'll win it going away. He deserves every penny of this deal.

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With the exception of free-agent-to-be Dansby Swanson and Max Fried, who has two more seasons of arbitration, Atlanta has pretty much everybody in its core locked up for the foreseeable future. The train ain't slowing down anytime soon.