Winker goes yard in third straight game

When Jesse Winker was in high-school travel ball and his parents couldn't make it to a game, they would call him and ask, "How many balls did you hit hard?"

"We've never really been a big stats family," the Reds' top prospect said. "It's always been just about playing hard and having fun from my oldest brother, down to me. So that's always been our motto."

On Thursday, the youngest Winker son only hit two balls hard, but it was the second one that really counted. After singling earlier, Winker homered for the third straight game as Double-A Pensacola suffered a 6-5 loss at Biloxi.

"I didn't really realize that's what happened, but that's really cool. I guess that's never happened before so that's awesome," said Winker, who turns 22 on Monday. "I try not to get too involved in stats, because it's such an up-and-down game. I just want to come back the next day and hit the ball hard again."

On a 2-for-4 night, Winker slugged the first pitch he saw from Adrian Houser (1-0) in the third inning for a three-run shot, his 11th homer of the season. On Left Handers' Day, the left-handed left fielder drove the ball to left for the third straight day, though he said he's not always trying to go the other way.

"I was just looking for something up, try to get a pitch to drive. I just happened to get a sweet spot on the ball and it happened to go out," he said. "I kind of use all the fields. I've always done that, even when I was a little kid. I just hit it where it's pitched. I try not to do too much with it."

After the baseball talk ended, Winker and his family would move on to other topics like how relatives were doing or most recently, to the Buffalo Bills, who begin preseason on Friday. Then MLB.com's No. 33 overall prospect would turn his attention to getting back on the field.

Winker's successful swing is nothing new. After a tough first half, the Florida native has hit his stride since the All-Star Break, hitting .303/.398/.497 in 43 games, but of course, that's not something he is paying attention to.

"It's a funny game how baseball works. Some days they fall, some days they get caught. I try not to look into it. I just come to the yard and try to have as much fun as I can every day. Baseball is a great game, it's a blessing I get to play it and I just enjoy it," he said. "There's so many games, so many at-bats that you can't really hang your head on one, five or 10."

His last 13 games, however, are hard to ignore. In August, Winker is batting .388 with four homers and seven RBIs. He credits the surge to his goals for September, but it's not a callup that's on his radar.

"It seems like every pitch, every play, every second of every game now seems to be a big moment. When you're in a playoff hunt, you don't want to give a pitch away," he said. "So just being in a playoff race, personally I want to keep battling. I want to keep coming to the park every day, grind out some at-bats, be a tough out and just have fun with it. That's really it.

"I don't really pay attention to anything like [a callup] that's out of my control. Right now, I'm a Pensacola Blue Wahoo and I'm just focused on that."

Cincinnati's No. 17 prospect Sal Romano (0-1) allowed five runs on six hits and four walks while striking out two over 4 1/3 innings in his third Southern League start.