Sarasota Athlete of the Week: 04.20.17

Trent Sinkfield is a senior baseball player at Riverview High. He is signed to play at Polk State College next season. As of April 18, Sinkfield was hitting for a .371 average. 

When did you start playing baseball?

I've played baseball since I was 4 years old. Pretty much everyone in my family here grew up playing baseball. I watched my brother (Tyler Sinkfield) grow up playing baseball. I was always out on the field playing.

What is the appeal of baseball to you?

I think it's one of the more technical sports. It's a game of inches. If you do one thing wrong, everything can go wrong. Also, I like how challenging it is.

What is your favorite baseball memory?

Probably getting called up (to varsity) freshman year. I played a couple games with those guys over spring break. It was a team full of seniors. That was a pretty cool experience.

What is your best skill on the field?

Anticipation. Anticipating what pitch someone might throw or where the ball is going to be hit or what our team is going to do next. It really helps my play.

What is your favorite food?

My grandmother (Marie Franca) is full-blooded Italian, so I grew up eating a lot of lasagna, things like that.

What is your favorite TV show/movie?

I like watching 'Seinfeld.' A lot of older stuff. I'll watch 'The Godfather' and those old mob movies.

What is your favorite subject in school?

I actually enjoy economics, which is kind of weird. It's real-world stuff, so it's actually something you can apply.

What is the best piece of advice you have received?

My brother said something to me, probably sophomore year. I was laying at home on a rainy day. I was supposed to work out that day, but I said to my brother ‘Eh, I don't want to work out today.' My brother said 'There's someone else out there working out right now.' That made something click in me.

When was the time you laughed the hardest?

I don't know if there's a hardest time, but you know when it gets late at night, and you're playing video games with your buddies or something, and someone says something almost 'tired drunk,' and everyone starts laughing? Me and my buddy Michael Allegra used to do that all the time.

Finish this sentence: "Trent Sinkfield is ... "

... Always working, always doing something. I'm never not doing something. If I'm not doing anything, it's because I think I need to not do something. I need to give my body a rest. If I'm doing homework, I'm trying to get better at that. I spend time with friends because I feel like I need to spend time with them. Stuff like that.