Tarpons' Florial busts out with career night

A wrist injury in March derailed a breakout Spring Training for Estevan Florial and delayed the start of his season until June 3. Although the 21-year-old only had to go across the street at the time, the transition from extended spring training to the Florida State League rarely happens instantaneously.
Mired in a season of ups and downs since his return, Florial appears to be turning a corner.
The top Yankees prospect homered for the second straight game and drove in a career-best five runs to power Class A Advanced Tampa past Daytona, 9-2, on Tuesday at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

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"I think the biggest thing for Estevan was getting over here and getting back into a consistent routine," Tarpons hitting coach Joe Migliaccio said. "It's a different schedule here than across the street, so it's really just been about getting a routine together. But he works very hard, he prepares well for every game and I think it was just a matter of getting the wheels going and the wheels are finally going.
"I think this is the start of what he's going to do for the rest of the season."
After five games without a knock, Florial has hit safely in six of his last seven contests. The 21-year-old nine hits, including three dingers, nine RBIs and seven runs scored during that span. And he's gone yard in back-to-back games for the first time since last July 14-16.
"I think the biggest thing with him is that he's really exciting to be around because if he goes 4-for-4 or 0-for-4, he's the same guy in the cage the next day," Migliaccio said. "He knows exactly what he needs and what he needs to work on, he never takes a day off, never any kind of excuse from him. He's always one of the first guys in the cage, he works really hard and I think now you're seeing the results of that."
Against the Tortugas, MLB.com's No. 47 overall prospect flied to deep center field in his first two at-bats against 30th-ranked Reds prospect Jared Solomon before stepping in against the right-hander for a third time in the fifth inning. After Deivi Munoz led off the frame with a four-pitch walk and Jose Martinez cued a base hit to left, Florial took the first two pitches, then turned on a fastball and launched it over the fence in right to break a scoreless tie.
"He does a good job of looking at scouting reports and he goes up there with a good idea of what he wants to do and how he thinks the pitcher is going to pitch him," Migliaccio said. "So really all the credit to him for the work he does before the game even starts."
Following consecutive singles by Steven Sensley, Diego Castillo and Munoz to start the seventh, Martinez hit a comebacker that plated a run and moved Castillo and Munoz into scoring position. Seeing righty Julio Pinto for the first time, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound center fielder fell behind, 0-2, before lining a fastball into center for a two-run knock that capped the Tarpons' scoring.
Florial raised his batting average to .222 with four long balls, 14 RBIs and 14 runs scored through 23 games. The native of the Dominican Republic's four-game hitting streak is his longest since starting the season with hits in four contests.
"He just continues to get his at-bats in and I think you're only going to see the extra-base hits continue to come," Migliaccio said. "He has incredible power. The last home run he hit [on Monday] exited at 100 mph. There wasn't a single defender that even moved when he hit it. But he doesn't go up there looking to yank balls, he will crush to left-center the same as right-center.

"The last thing we want to talk about with our hitters is batting average. We talk about swinging at good pitches and hitting them as hard as we can. Sometimes you hit it right at someone and it's caught, but that's baseball. As long as he has a good approach and sticks with his plan -- and continues to swing at good pitches -- he's going to continue to hit baseballs that people in the stands will say, 'Wow.'"
In his third trip to big league camp this spring, Florial posted a .355/.429/.516 slash line with a dinger, two doubles, four RBIs and seven runs scored in 13 games.
Sensley launched a three-run blast, his fifth, in the fifth, singled and scored twice for Tampa.
Alejo Lopez accounted for Daytona's offense with a two-run homer in the eighth.