Is Minnesota Twins Miguel Sano the next top prospect heading to the bigs?
By Wayne Cavadi
The Year of the Prospect. if you are a minor league enthusiast, this season has been unlike any other for quite some time. Top 50 prospects not only keep popping up on Major League rosters, for the most part, they are succeeding. Who is the next elite prospect to make the jump?
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One very likely candidate is the Minnesota Twins Miguel Sano. Unfortunately the promotion of Byron Buxton — who’s injury prone history translated in the Majors as he found his way to the DL already — and Alex Meyer — who has been dinged up out of the bullpen a bit — did not go as well as the Twins may have liked.
I know what you are going to say. That I’m nuts. Sano is coming off a lost 2014 to Tommy John surgery and he has never seen Triple-A ball. That doesn’t matter this year. There is something in the water and these “kids” are performing.
Kyle Schwarber, Joey Gallo, and Buxton all got the call and at least got to test the waters before seeing a Triple-A pitch this season. Gallo came out hot but was just sent down, Schwarber lit it up knowing he only had a 6-day stint, and Buxton once again got hurt. The point is, that they were at least given their chance.
Sano, the 22-year old third baseman who the Twins signed out of the Dominican in 2010, is scorching hot. He is coming off of his first Southern League Player of the Week Award for the Chattanooga Lookouts.
Jul 14, 2013; Flushing , NY, USA; World infielder Miguel Sano at bat during the 2013 All Star Futures Game at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
He slashed .588/.632/1.235 last week. That last number isn’t a typo as he went 10-for-17 with seven of those ten hits going for extra bases. He drove in seven on the week to give him a very impressive season line of .274/.374/.544 with 15 home runs and 48 RBI.
There’s no room for him right now in Minnesota, you say? Maybe not. Sano’s defense has never been his calling card as far as gracefulness and range, but he has a rifle that seems to be fully recovered Tommy John surgery. Can he stick at third at the big league level?
Trevor Plouffe is a nice third baseman, but his 2012 breakout season (I use that term very loosely) seems to be his plateau, though he still has some pop left in that bat. He isn’t getting more powerful, but he does play a decent third base, so he certainly has his place in the Twins lineup.
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What about a rotation of Plouffe and Sano at third, with Plouffe serving as the designated hitter when Sano is at the hot corner. Twins fans can’t be sold on Kennys Vargas so much that they would cry to see him pushed into a reserve role.
Plouffe also has first base experience. Joe Mauer is playing very well in his transition to first base, but he still could use days off here and there. Plouffe can become the first baseman while Mauer serves as the DH.
I understand the counterpoint. He is just half of a season back from Tommy John, so why rush him? If it were any other year, I would probably agree. But right now, this wave of prospects came to play, and surprisingly, so have the 2015 Minnesota Twins. Why not give Sano a chance?