Daytona's Trammell picking up steam

The Reds plucked Taylor Trammell with the 35th pick in the 2016 First-Year Player Draft, valuing the two-sport star's raw athleticism and eye for the game enough to overpay him at his slot value.
Trammell continued to show why that was with the Class A Advanced Tortugas on Thursday.

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Baseball's No. 35 overall prospect finished 3-for-3 at the plate with a walk, scored twice and knocked in a run as Daytona beat Clearwater, 9-3, at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. Trammell's reached base in his last six at-bats and raised his average to .315, its highest point since the first week of the season.
The 20-year-old outfielder said he owes his steady upward trend at the plate to a calm, level-headed mind-set. Trammell admitted that was missing when he slumped to begin his first full professional season last spring with Class A Dayton with a .221/.315/.312 slash line in his first 20 games. He told MiLB.com in March that starting games 0-for-2 frazzled him and kick-started slumps. With two years of professional baseball under his belt, it takes much more to rattle Trammell now.
"The biggest thing for me, day in and day out, is being consistent. Getting rid of those really good games that would be here for a day or two, and then hitting a wall," he said. "Even when I struggle, I want to go 0-for-3 and have a walk and a hard-hit ball. That's consistency, that's the thing I want to develop as a hitter while not taking any pitches off.
"And I don't want to get too anxious. When I do, I get in trouble and I'm pull-happy. I've just been staying calm the last couple days, getting my pitches and making sure I stay back on them to make good contact."
In his first at-bat Thursday, Trammell fouled a pair of pitches en route to drawing a walk. He scored two batters later on a two-run single byBruce Yari. In the third, he dribbled a grounder toward first and legged it out for a single. He led off the fifth with a ground-ball single to left. And that's when Trammell's speed kicked in. After stealing second with eight-ranked Tyler Stephenson up, Trammell stole third, forcing Clearwater catcher Henri Lartigue into a throwing error so he could waltz on home.
"I stole on the first pitch of the next guy. The pitcher [Bailey Falter] did a good job of holding me on, but I just got a great jump and took second," he said. "Then with two outs on third with a lefty up to the plate, I was anticipating a ball in the dirt and got a good jump, even though you don't try to steal too much with a lefty up cause the catcher has such a good view.

"I just tried to make something happen and do my job for my team. We have a lot of guys swinging well, and I want to put guys in the best position possible. Anything I can do to help."
In the seventh with runners on first and second, Trammell jumped on the second pitch and snuck it in the gap between first and second, scoring Randy Ventura.
"I just told myself to work the middle of the field with [Felix Paulino's] pitch tailing off early on, and I got it hard and got the run in," he said. "I was just happy I could get the job done. Clearwater has been hot lately. They're a good team to beat. It's a good win for us and I'm just happy to contribute."
Ventura also recorded three hits while Brantley Bell and Ibandel Isabel both knocked solo homers for the Tortugas.