Saturday-Sunday in Beloit. It was not pretty.

The Snappers clinched the 1st half wild card and decided to mail in the weekend. It was not a weekend of good baseball for the A Ball affliate. In the field, on the mound and in the box they brought nothing that excited the few locals who showed up. Saturday Jason Wheeler started and had a rough first inning for him, working up in the zone and not keeping the ball down. The Burlington Bees made him pay that inning, with a couple hard hit balls and that found green. The next couple innings the wheels came off the Snapper wagon completely with 2 Sano error, a couple of hard hit balls, a few walks, some steals and a passed ball. There was not much to like about the Saturday game, but Wheeler started to get the ball down and got a string of groundballs that eitehr found some holes and rolled into the outfield or found his fielders with a 60% chance of a out being recorded. By the end of the night there were 5 errors, all no doubters. Wheeler ended after 5 innings and gave up 7 runs of which 4 were earned. For the night the Snappers gave up 11 runs, 6 earned.

Sano is a beast with a swing to die for, but the guy needs to stay in Beloit and work on his fielding. I am no baseball scout or ex-major leaguer, but he looks like a player in transistion and struggling with certain aspects of the new position. He comes in on balls very well and has a cannon for a arm, he does not look as good going to his left and his reactions were just a tick behind the play on some hard smashes. You can't go all crazy on him and give up on 3rd yet, he is a good athelete and has the tools to be a good man over there. But he his in Low A and that is why he is there. Also that Arm needs some work on its accuracy. To qoute the Stones, "Time is on his side."

Adam Bryant had the best game I saw this weekend for the Snappers. A Single, double and triple last night and nothing cheap.

Sunday, looked good with Matt Summers rolling along through 5 innings and a 2-0 lead. He ran into a spot of trouble in the 4th when the bases loaded on a couple of well squared singles and another error on the infield. But he got out of it with a K and fly ball to center. In the 6th he started by giving up a single then gotta a quick Sano-Peterson-Liddle double play, the former Gopher saved a Sano error with a nice pick in the dirt at acrobatic turn and toss to get the runner. So things looked good at this point. Next two batters-single and long home run. from there two more homers and nothing further from the Snappers led to the 6-2 final.

Other then the games our family had a good time with the fireworks, the on field game my son did, the Horny Goat Blonde, the Sano wobblehead, the dogs and brats. The weather was warm Sunday and some rain hit just as the fireworks ended on Saturday night. I mean where else do you get a Hall of Famer running around the concourse-Paul Molitor and the number 3 prospect-Rosario- in the organization sitting in the GA seats right behind you sipping a strawberry ice cream cooler, talking about life and the chattering about the game ongoing. (Some of it in English.) Gotta love the low minors.

As always Snappers games are great values for the family dollar. Wish 2 things, more people would realise this fact and the Snappers had shown up to play.


Some Pics-

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Jason Wheeler

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Find the Hall of Famer.

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JD Williams doubled up the middle on this one. Bees slept on his speed.

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This is a Sano Wobblehead. (The one on the left that is.)

Great report... Sorry you saw a couple of clunkers, although at least today's game was good until the 8th.

I love how good it makes me feel to read a report like this one -- pure baseball in an apple pie American setting.

Good read. I was afraid it was going to be completely negative from the title, but it was informative and honest. Thanks for posting!

Rosario spent a lot of time in the stands yesterday, sipping stuff through straws. Didn't look in bad shape, I was expecting more discoloration and his face being puffy. Did he get surgery already or is that still on tap?

I was there Saturday as well. What are your thoughts on Sano as a 3B? Mine are he's horrible.

My thoughts are that he is 19 years old and in his first year playing the position. My expectations for him around defense is very limited at this point and it is frustrating to read angst filled comments that fail to take into account those two basic facts. I was a third baseman in high school who outgrew shortstop, like Sano I packed on some pounds but unlike him I stopped getting taller. I know it is a different animal at third then at short, the game comes much quicker and sometimes you really need to slow it down. But you know that doesn't happen over night. Will they move Sano to the outfield or 1st base in High A or AA, maybe. But the opportunity to have a All Star Quality thrid baseman does not come along very often, count the number of Hall of Fame 3rd baseman.

The kid has the athletic ability, I watch him move his feet when he charges a ball and his pick up and release and can see he has the raw infield skills. That is a comfortable play for a shortstop and he executes it well. The hot shots down the line or to his left are works in progress, he is still adapting to getting into a good fielding posture all the time I noticed too. Also the other thing I found different is that as a Shortstop you are really involved in every play and have more responsibilty then a 3rd baseman. It is easy to lose a bit of focus at 3rd, it took me a shot off my knee one cold spring afternoon on Minneapolis field to figure out that I am in a very exposed place here and better pay attention or I could get hit in place that would be much worse.

If we give up on him at third we are pushing him from a position of need in the organization at this point, unless you believe that Plouffe is the answer for the next 8 years, to one of moderate strength in the organization (outfield) or one that is fairly easy to fill from outside (First base). Put him and Rosario in the infield with Parmalee/Mauer at first with Buxton, Hicks and Revere or Benson or Arcia in the outfield you can get by with a all glove SS and a moderate offensive catcher. But in the end like all things baseball through the years, with the exception of the Canseco/Sosa/McGwire era, it will come down to pitching.

This is Low A ball. These kids are here for seasoning and work. We should not be expecting polished players and sometimes we lose sight of that. Slow down and let him develop is my mantra with Sano. The Twins need to take the long view on this, and I know that is not something the folks at Target Field want to hear. Sano will get there and he will be a powerful force in the lineup. (He also needs to work on some things at the plate too.) We just might have to wait until he is 21 or 22 years old.

Excellent post, MWLFan. Third base is a very difficult position to play, it's not like your typical corner position because it has more responsibilities, you have to have a strong arm and quick reactions. It will take time for Sano to adjust to that but if he has the potential to play that position you let him work it out for awhile.