Hood continues power surge on five-RBI night

If power is the last piece of the puzzle for Destin Hood, he's starting to look complete. 
"I think [hitting for power has] been a work in progress over the last few years, where different parts of my game have been showing up," he said, "and now I'm trying not to be too fine and too perfect."
The No. 30 Miami prospect homered twice while putting together his second five-RBI performance of the year in Triple-A New Orleans' 14-4 romp at Colorado Springs on Wednesday.

Gameday box score
Hood -- who was drafted in the second round in 2008 by the Nationals and has also played in the Indians and Phillies organizations -- set a season high with 15 homers in the Pacific Coast League and one in the Majors last year. But he's gone yard 11 times this year and seven times in his last 10 games for the Baby Cakes.
"He's getting good pitches to hit, and he's not missing them," New Orleans manager Arnie Beyeler said. "He's getting himself into good counts and using the whole field.
"The hitting coordinator, Joe Dillon, was in town a couple weeks ago. [Hood] has a history with him from back when he was with the Nationals. [Baby Cakes hitting coach] Kevin Witt works with him every day. He works hard. He does a good job. He's a pretty streaky guy, and when he gets hot, it's pretty fun to watch." 

With a .250/.337/.500 slash line and 32 RBIs through 44 games, Hood thinks his biggest adjustment has been mental.
"One of the things was, if I got a good pitch to hit, I was being too perfect with it, trying to square it up too perfectly, rather than keep the bat long through the zone and drive the ball," he said. "It's me learning a little more about hitting, learning about different counts, learning different situations, and it's paying off.
"I'm a person who likes analyze the game, and sometimes I can analyze too much. It feels good to quiet that part down and focus on what happens in front of me -- the count, the situation the game is in. I'm learning to trust in my ability. If I fly out or foul off a pitch, don't get discouraged. Stay with what I'm doing."
With a runner on second base and nobody out in the third inning, the Alabama native stepped in against No. 3 Brewers prospectJosh Hader, baseball's No. 33 overall prospect. His new mentality paid off on the hard-throwing left-hander's 1-1 pitch.
"That was a changeup, He threw me a changeup before that and I swung over the top of it," Hood said. "In that situation before, I might have said, 'I just swung through that. I don't want to do that again,' but this time I put the same swing on it."
The ball cleared the fence in left-center field.
Andrew Barbosa struck him out in the fourth, but Hood made a mental note of that at-bat for their meeting in the sixth, when two runners were aboard.
"In the [fourth-inning] AB, he got me out in front, so my goal was to see it long and get it up in the zone," he said. "He threw me a slider up and I hit a home run. You kind of just ride the wave. You can go a week without a hit, and some weeks you can't miss."

He nearly had another dinger in the eighth, but Sky Sox right fielder Brett Phillips tracked down the long fly ball. 
"When I got back to the dugout, everybody said, 'You just missed it,'" Hood said. "I did just miss it. I let it get a little deeper, and I put a good swing on it, but I just missed."
New Orleans tallied five homers in the rout, including one by starting pitcher Kelvin Marte. The southpaw improved to 1-1 after allowing three runs on six hits and two walks while striking out five over six innings.
Phillips, Milwaukee's No. 10 prospect, collected a triple, a double, an RBI and a run.
Hader (3-4) was tagged for eight runs -- all earned -- on nine hits and three walks over three innings.