Former Wildcat J.T. Riddle is red hot

A Kentucky native, former Mr. Kentucky Baseball, and University of Kentucky baseball alumni is making the most of his opportunity as a starter in the big leagues for the Miami Marlins.

J.T. Riddle is just 26 years old and four years removed from his Kentucky baseball days.

He is now in his second big league season. Year one was very disappointing as Riddle missed a good chunk of the season recovering from shoulder surgery.

In year two, however, Riddle has become the Marlins everyday Shortstop.

The Marlins are very much in a rebuilding stage after trading away their four top hitters from 2017 during the offseason thus, this year the younger players need to prove they are worth holding onto for the long run.

Riddle has done just that. Riddle got off to a bit of a slow start and battled a hip injury that forced him to miss sometime thus his batting average of .233, and unimpressive power numbers of eight home runs and 30 RBI’s doesn’t exactly look appealing.

However, over the course of his last 15 games, Riddle has been as hot as anyone in all of baseball. He is batting .293, with three home runs and nine RBI’s over that stretch.

The bulk of that production has come in his last seven games where he has hit three long balls and is batting .360.

Riddle also has played a solid shortstop proving he can play the position throughout the year.

If J.T. Riddle can continue his hot hitting down the final stretch of the 2018 season, he has a chance to prove he can be the organization’s shortstop for years to come.