Article: For Better or Worse: Miguel Sano

To ericchri:

I just saw him play 3B in two games in June and four games in August. My comment on his speed was more, home to first, and from 1st to 3rd or home. A couple of times, I really saw going. I'm not comparing him to Billy Hamilton, to be sure, but for someone with that much power, I was quite impressed.

You make a good point about the first-step quickness. That is very important at 3B. That may have been why Cuddyer didn't last there, and frankly, it may be why Sano won't stay there. I didn't personally see it as an issue in the 6 games I saw, but that's clearly not enough for me to make any strong judgment either way. I was really referring to the pre-pitch prep that I saw him. early in the season, he was kind of all over the place. Later in the season, every pitch, he was into. The footwork looked good, and the focus definitely was more there. I really believe that if he puts his mind to it, he can be solid over there.

As others have said since then, they can't move everyone to RF or 1B, so my main point is that I saw enough to definitely keep working with him. I didn't see hard hands. I did see him working in BP at shortstop. Tommy Watkins said that once he started doing that, he got back to being more athletic, and playing 3B more like SS, which I think is a good thing. No one is questioning his arm. Absolute rocket! And yes, the power is definitely there in the bat.

Thanks Seth. I'm not trying to argue against the guy at 3rd in the slightest, I got into it with someone in another thread over trading for Mike Olt "because Sano can't stick at 3rd", which seems a bad decision to make at this point in Sano's career. I just immediately noted the difference in the two reports being so contradictory. And I have no useful information to contribute, otherwise. I just enjoy reading about these guys and dreaming.

> That said, having Kennys Vargas hitting behind him all season should allow him to see a few more pitches.

Do minor league managers play those kinds of games (double meaning sort of intended)? My impression is that their job is to get their players to develop, and/or see what they've got, and part of that would be to encourage them "go after Sano [or any other good hitter] with your best stuff", regardless.

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Originally Posted by Seth Stohs

If he wants to be a good fielder, he can be. It's as much about focus/concentration than anything.

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I visualize some 6 year-old in Tee-Ball looking around and picking dandelions, but so far as I know Sano has not been hit in the back by a batted ball. :)

I think the comparison to Mauer's trajectory to the big leagues might be a little premature. Keep in mind Mauer hit .335 at Ft Myers and .341 at New Britain. They could trade Pierzynski because there was no reason to keep Mauer in the minors. Sano is going to have to improve his plate discipline if he's going to be a quality major leaguer. You can have all the power in the world, but if you can't make contact it's useless.

The Twins aren't moving him from 3B anytime soon. Anyone who truely thinks the Twins are still sticklers about defense, remember we are about to head into year two with Trevor Plouffe manning the hot corner. Sano's defense needs work, but it can't be that far behind Plouffe's current level.

As to his trajectory compared to Mauer, it seems unlikely to me but not as impossible as some think. Sure Mauer had more mature numbers in aspects of plate discipline, but these are two completely different players. Offensively, the team is evaluating Sano on a much different skill set than Mauer. It's not like the Twins are going to wait on Sano to have league average strikeout numbers, if they did, he'd likely never come up.

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Originally Posted by nicksaviking

Sano's defense needs work, but it can't be that far behind Plouffe's current level.

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Yeah it can. Plouffe stuck at short through his entire minor league career and played some short in Minnesota. Sano couldn't stick at short in the low minors.

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Originally Posted by ashburyjohn

> That said, having Kennys Vargas hitting behind him all season should allow him to see a few more pitches.

Do minor league managers play those kinds of games (double meaning sort of intended)? My impression is that their job is to get their players to develop, and/or see what they've got, and part of that would be to encourage them "go after Sano [or any other good hitter] with your best stuff", regardless.

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I've wondered about this, too. But isn't part of the minor league manager/pitching coach's job also to teach a kid how to
"pitch smart," as well? Wouldn't that include being aware of the hitter's strengths and weaknesses and pitching accordingly... being aware of who's on deck and whether that means you should "make him hit your pitch because we'd rather walk him than have him jack one on us"? If the primary job was to develop the pitcher and see what they've got against the best hitters, you'd never see an intentional walk in Class A... but we certainly do.

The answer is probably somewhere in between. Depending on the pitching prospect, you might turn him loose to challenge Sano quicker in a minor league game than you would in the Bigs, but there remain times when you adjust to the situation because that's part of learning to pitch, too.

Seth - look at the third paragraph under your heading "2012 Recap."

As for Sano following the path Mauer took to be a 20-yr-old MLB starter........I think its possible. But Sano is a MUCH different hitter than Mauer, and doesn't profile as an elite defender like Mauer. I don't see Sano skipping up to AA this next year. He is too far behind where 19-20-yr-old Mauer was with plate discipline.

Sano will be a monster in Minnesota, but it will probably take him until 2015.

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Originally Posted by Jim Crikket

I've wondered about this, too. But isn't part of the minor league manager/pitching coach's job also to teach a kid how to
"pitch smart," as well? Wouldn't that include being aware of the hitter's strengths and weaknesses and pitching accordingly... being aware of who's on deck and whether that means you should "make him hit your pitch because we'd rather walk him than have him jack one on us"? If the primary job was to develop the pitcher and see what they've got against the best hitters, you'd never see an intentional walk in Class A... but we certainly do.

The answer is probably somewhere in between. Depending on the pitching prospect, you might turn him loose to challenge Sano quicker in a minor league game than you would in the Bigs, but there remain times when you adjust to the situation because that's part of learning to pitch, too.

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Also weighing into the mixture is that the manager himself is trying to get a promotion and wants to demonstrate he can "manage a game'. So yes, intentional walks do occur, and "somewhere in between" sounds right.

It's even debatable how much the concept of batting-order protection really shows up in a hitter's production at the MLB level, so that's a different reason to look twice at a forecast of Sano's production in 2013 based on that as input.

Seth - who would you compare Sano more favorably to: Giancarlo Stanton or Mark Reynolds?

That was kind of my point with Jeter. With Sano's skill set - He can be adequate at 3rd and exceptionally clutch at the plate. Look at this years triple crown winner. I will take that from Sano any day. I'm sure most of you / us would take 2 of 3 triple crown categories. He just needs to be serviceable at 3rd. The kid can Rake!!

;)[QUOTE=Brock Beauchamp;75643]Yeah it can. Plouffe stuck at short through his entire minor league career and played some short in Minnesota. Sano couldn't stick at short in the low minors.[/QU

Significantly different skill-set between SS and 3B. SS has to be nimble to turn the DP, and given the Twins history at collisions at 2B it seems to make a great deal of sense to move [the projected] #1 power hitter away from SS to 3B to avoid losing him to injury. Plus, the Twins have a huge need at 3B. Remember, Gardy sez one guy doesn't have to hit (say SS) if everybody else does!;)

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Originally Posted by Kwak

Significantly different skill-set between SS and 3B. SS has to be nimble to turn the DP, and given the Twins history at collisions at 2B it seems to make a great deal of sense to move [the projected] #1 power hitter away from SS to 3B to avoid losing him to injury. Plus, the Twins have a huge need at 3B. Remember, Gardy sez one guy doesn't have to hit (say SS) if everybody else does!

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Different skillset but short is a harder position to play by a considerable margin. If Plouffe has the range to play short, he can play third. His arm isn't an issue (only its accuracy). He had all the tools to play shortstop for most of his career. Sano didn't make it out of the low minors at the position.

The Twins didn't move Sano away from short for fear of injury. That's ludicrous; a shortstop that hits like Sano is a once-in-a-generation player. They moved him because every scout on the planet says he can't play the position. Many of those same scouts believe he can't even play third. By any measure, Plouffe was the better defender from the moment he was drafted until today. The two shouldn't be compared.

Sano is much better defensively when Vargas is at 1st base. Kennys is a mountain of a man, a HUGE target and keeps miguel grounded. When Kennys arrived at Beloit is when Sano's errors went way down. It is also quite amusing to hear Vargas bellow: "Sano, throw it to Big Poppi". Both are great kids and I can't wait to see them during spring training.

Mike Trout is another example of someone who was able to move up quickly and succeed.

How much of the strikeout thing was the result of rarely getting anything good to hit and getting tired of taking walks all the time? When I played, I was pitched around a lot and, as a result, got into bad habits like chasing pitcher's pitches just to try to hit something. I wonder if that is part of the reason for the high walks and high strikeouts.

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Originally Posted by cmathewson

How much of the strikeout thing was the result of rarely getting anything good to hit and getting tired of taking walks all the time? When I played, I was pitched around a lot and, as a result, got into bad habits like chasing pitcher's pitches just to try to hit something. I wonder if that is part of the reason for the high walks and high strikeouts.

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I would say its a factor. When I went and saw Beloit play a couple games last summer, he saw more breaking balls than fastballs and the fastballs were mostly out of the zone. There were moments that he was over aggressive and swinging at balls out of the zone even when ahead in the count. He also showed some restraint when he had to. With the bases loaded and a 1-2 count, he took a high fastball and a low breaking ball to fill the count. He flinched at both pitches but managed to hold off. 3-2 pitch was hung and Sano Launched it.

Those are the the AB's Sano needs to remember. Not just because he hit a grand slam. He showed good patience and it paid off when he got the pitch he wanted.

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Originally Posted by Brock Beauchamp

Different skillset but short is a harder position to play by a considerable margin. If Plouffe has the range to play short, he can play third. His arm isn't an issue (only its accuracy). He had all the tools to play shortstop for most of his career. Sano didn't make it out of the low minors at the position.

The Twins didn't move Sano away from short for fear of injury. That's ludicrous; a shortstop that hits like Sano is a once-in-a-generation player. They moved him because every scout on the planet says he can't play the position. Many of those same scouts believe he can't even play third. By any measure, Plouffe was the better defender from the moment he was drafted until today. The two shouldn't be compared.

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We've got the best right handed power hitting prospect we've had since Killer and we are worried about his defense? Really? They moved him from short because he weighed 250 pounds as an 18 year old and he's still growing. Hopefully he can stay at third, but he might end up at first. Short was never a likely option.