Sierra sparks Palm Beach from leadoff spot

Throughout his first season in Class A Advanced, Magneuris Sierra has been learning how successful a ballplayer he can be.
On Monday night, he was showing everyone else.
St. Louis' No. 7 prospect tripled twice and finished a homer shy of the cycle as Palm Beach downed Florida, 8-6. He drove in two runs and scored twice.

"The No. 1 thing for any hitter at any level is confidence," Cardinals manager Dann Bilardello said. "I think just by watching him, obviously he has some confidence now. He's gotten some hits. He's got so much potential of having the ball driven into gaps and hitting the ball down the line or whatever. We want him to be aggressive swinging in his counts and early in counts."
Box score
Batting at the top of the order, Sierra tripled to center field in the first inning and scored on Blake Drake's sacrifice fly. Sierra beat out an infield single to shortstop to lead off the third, then opened the fifth with a double to left and scored three batters later on a single by Chris Chinea.
Five of Sierra's six multi-hit games in 2017 have come in his last 10 contests. He's batting .372 over that span. 
"I think, over the last 10 games, he's had some success and he's hit some balls in the gap," Bilardello said. "I think any time that happens, there's just a confidence that builds. Tonight was a good example of it. He drove the ball really well."
The center fielder delivered his biggest hit in the sixth after Palm Beach squandered a five-run lead in the top of the frame. Sierra roped a two-run triple to center that gave the Cardinals the lead for good, although he was caught trying to score on an attempted squeeze play.
"I think what's impressive about it is that he drove the ball," Bilardello said. "There were times early on in the year when it would just be kind of make contact, slap the ball that way toward left or whatever. I think it helped that he had earlier at-bats where he did drive the ball. Like I said, it comes down to confidence."
After the first five games, Sierra was a .200/.304/.250 hitter with one extra-base hit. In 10 games since then, he's lifted his line to .317/.394/.476 with a double and four triples. And with seven walks this season, he's also learning how a discerning eye at the plate can create opportunities for contact.
"We preach it in our organization. No matter if you're leading off or not, be able to command the strike zone and understand the strike zone, make the pitcher throw a lot of pitches," Bilardello said. "Some guys are better than others, and it just takes a process of learning that. He does a good job of it. There's an occasion where he gets off that realm, but he's still a young player, and he's still developing."
Sierra has also benefited from a staff that embraces his skills while stressing the 21-year-old doesn't have to be perfect every day.
"It's OK to fail," his manager said. "We've kind of talked about that, not only to him, but to everybody. It's a weird game that failure is a good learning experience. It's hard to grasp when you're a young player and you're talented or even if you're not talented. It's a hard thing to grasp, that kind of concept, but it is very true. You learn a lot by that. I think the process that he's on now, he's had a couple games where he's swung out of the zone, etcetera, and he's come back and had some really good disciplined-type games and at-bats. That's all a process."

The Cardinals roughed up Braves No. 11 prospectTouki Toussaint for six runs on seven hits over 4 1/3 innings. José Godoy went 4-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. 
Bilardello kept things in perspective.
"Baseball is very fleeting in a way where it's like, 'Hey, you had a good game, but here we go tomorrow,'" he said. "That's where young players or any players have got to know that tomorrow's another day.
"Especially for a young player like him, he's got to have that same approach tomorrow. Whether he gets four hits or not, I kind of don't care, to be honest. I just want his work habits to be good."