Sano @ 3B

[mudcat14]

With the path cleared for Miguel to handle the hot corner full-time, will he make a commitment this off-season to getting himself in the best shape possible?  I know from the documentary,"El Poletero." that he was driven at a young age to overcome his humble beginnings.  My fear is that since he has accomplished that, he may lack the drive to reach his full potential.  Frankly, I was disappointed with his conditioning last year, and hope we don't see a repeat.  

[strumdatjaguar]

 

With the path cleared for Miguel to handle the hot corner full-time, will he make a commitment this off-season to getting himself in the best shape possible?  I know from the documentary,"El Poletero." that he was driven at a young age to overcome his humble beginnings.  My fear is that since he has accomplished that, he may lack the drive to reach his full potential.  Frankly, I was disappointed with his conditioning last year, and hope we don't see a repeat.  

 

I agree.  I think Sano is destined to be a first baseman in the future, but it would be nice to get 2-4 seasons out of him at third.  If he doesn't stay in shape, however, he becomes either a designated hitter or designate for assignment.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

With the path cleared for Miguel to handle the hot corner full-time, will he make a commitment this off-season to getting himself in the best shape possible?  I know from the documentary,"El Poletero." that he was driven at a young age to overcome his humble beginnings.  My fear is that since he has accomplished that, he may lack the drive to reach his full potential.  Frankly, I was disappointed with his conditioning last year, and hope we don't see a repeat.  

I'm not sure what Poletero is in Spanish, but Pelotero means baseball player

 

Now that said, Sano will always be a big guy.  That has nothing to do with his conditioning. He's built like a football player and could quite possibly have been in the NFL.  I wouldn't get too concerned about that just yet. It may be an issue down the road, and I'm sure Sano knows full well that his next big contract will likely be impacted by it.

[HitInAPinch]

There's still some smoothing out in Sano's mechanics that needs to be done.  No more "bonk, bonk on the head" type plays   

[theBOMisthebomb]

As far as conditioning related to weight, it seems Sano shouldn't get any bigger than he was last year and I am certain the Twins wouldn't mind him dropping 10-20 pounds. The training I feel he needs is reps at third base since he hasn't played consistently there the last few years.

[Doomtints]

 

I'm not sure what Poletero is in Spanish, but Pelotero means baseball player

 

Now that said, Sano will always be a big guy.  That has nothing to do with his conditioning. He's built like a football player and could quite possibly have been in the NFL.  I wouldn't get too concerned about that just yet. It may be an issue down the road, and I'm sure Sano knows full well that his next big contract will likely be impacted by it.

 

Someone named Delmon Young has a similar frame to Sano, but that didn't stop people from questioning his conditioning. 

 

In fact, if Sano's debut year proves to be the outlier, the comparisons to Young will be unstoppable.  I'm sure the comparison now makes many of you want to click "reply" and commence the flaming, but Sano's WAR last year was a typical Young year.  Both guys dominated in and burned quickly through the minors.  Both guys play lazy defense, don't appear to take defense very seriously, and would clearly rather just DH.

 

Time will tell which year was the abomination for Sano -- 2015 or 2016.  If it's 2015, he will go down as another Delmon Young.  If it was 2016, he has an MVP award in his future.  The Twins should not be afraid to trade him if his struggles continue for much longer.  Like the Twins ten years ago, due to Sano's high expectations another team will be willing to give Sano a try even if he is underperforming.

[Thrylos]

Data:

453 innings at 3B; Sano's UZR is 1.4 & UZR/150 is 3.9

 

Above average.

[darin617]

2018 he will become full time DH.

[snepp]

 

Data:

453 innings at 3B; Sano's UZR is 1.4 & UZR/150 is 3.9

 

Above average, in a super-small sample size that shouldn't be used to draw any conclusions.

 

Salt in granular form added.

[Lefty74]

In life perception is reality. My perception of Sano from 2016 was that he did not prepare to play RF (not discounting he should never have been put in that position), was overweight, had a lowlight reel of booted balls and lack of effort in RF and 3B, seemed more interested in yukking it up with opposing players when the Twins were getting drilled than showing any sort of competitive spirit and seemed to regress at the plate taking some horrible swings on pitches he laid off of in 2015.

 

I think he is very immature and doesn't understand what it means to be a professional. Compare him to Correa, Lindor and many other young players who seem to prepare at a very different level than Sano. It seems to me that 2017 will be very telling. If he comes in overweight and unprepared for 3B it does not bode well for the future.

[theBOMisthebomb]

In life perception is reality. My perception of Sano from 2016 was that he did not prepare to play RF (not discounting he should never have been put in that position), was overweight, had a lowlight reel of booted balls and lack of effort in RF and 3B, seemed more interested in yukking it up with opposing players when the Twins were getting drilled than showing any sort of competitive spirit and seemed to regress at the plate taking some horrible swings on pitches he laid off of in 2015.

I think he is very immature and doesn't understand what it means to be a professional. Compare him to Correa, Lindor and many other young players who seem to prepare at a very different level than Sano. It seems to me that 2017 will be very telling. If he comes in overweight and unprepared for 3B it does not bode well for the future.

Amen to this. Sano comes across as unprofessional and unprepared with a laissez-faire attitude. If he flops in 2017 it might lead to a downward spiral where he is classified as a bust and that would be a shame. Agreed that Spring training 2017 is pivotal and if he comes in overweight and not ready then Molly should take some corrective action. Sano needs a kick in the pants. Maybe he just doesn't care as long as he's getting paid - that is the appearance anyway. Hoping I'm wrong about all this.

[mudcat14]

If he does indeed have a lax attitude, I hope Mollie and others have expressed their displeasure with him already, and don't wait to see who shows up in Fort Meyers.  Trying to get his attention by having him start 2017 in Rochester would be too late IMHO.

[Ncgo4]

Sano has immense potential.  He is also seems blessed with a very happy go lucky personality.  He was born into poverty and is now wealthy beyond his imagination, so who can blame him.  The question is if he can harness his joy and do what's necessary to be the best he can be.  I'm hoping the answer is "yes" because the best he can be is better than darned near anyone else in baseball.

 

The first hint will be when he shows up for spring training.  A good "tell" will be if he jumps out of his Corvette or if they need a forklift to get him out of the back of Byron's pickup truck.  It's up to him and I, for one, believe he'll be just fine and look forward to watching him next year.

[Loosey]

I firmly believe last year was an aberration.  He came up in 2015 and dominated right from the get go.  His hard work of the last 10 years got its payoff and he was succeeding in the Major Leagues.  He then took an off season a lot more lightly than he presumably had in the past.  Maybe he thought he had made it and didn't need to do just as much work as he had done to get there, maybe there were other reasons.  

 

One thing that was very lightly reported that not even the Twins knew about was the death of his infant daughter of one week old right before the 2015 season.  Maybe he didn't have the time to grieve fully and actually was able to spend time with his wife and family last off-season and grieve, or do what ever was necessary to make him as whole as he could possibly be after losing a child.  Baseball might have to take a backseat for few months.   

 

These guys are people first and baseball is their job.  I think 2017 will be an all-star type season for Sano.  He has too much natural talent.  And with the commitment to get better he will be great.

[Steve Penz]

It would make my year if he started showing up in the work out videos that JO La Maquina posts on Twitter.  He is plenty strong.  I hope he stays flexible and as quick as he can be for a fella his size.  Those things should help him avoid nagging injuries also.  

[laloesch]

 

In life perception is reality. My perception of Sano from 2016 was that he did not prepare to play RF (not discounting he should never have been put in that position), was overweight, had a lowlight reel of booted balls and lack of effort in RF and 3B, seemed more interested in yukking it up with opposing players when the Twins were getting drilled than showing any sort of competitive spirit and seemed to regress at the plate taking some horrible swings on pitches he laid off of in 2015.

I think he is very immature and doesn't understand what it means to be a professional. Compare him to Correa, Lindor and many other young players who seem to prepare at a very different level than Sano. It seems to me that 2017 will be very telling. If he comes in overweight and unprepared for 3B it does not bode well for the future.

 

Oooohhh, better put on the flak jacket after uttering that here, not that I disagree with you.  2017 is a big season for him for sure. 

[raindog]

I think he is a bit immature but he's also very young. I'm not too worried about his future. I have a hunch he's going to be dedicated this year. 

[drjim]

I was in favor last year of putting him in RF, but now I'm at the point that capturing defensive value is far less important than doing what it takes to get his bat going (though I don't buy the narrative that putting him in the OF had much impact on his hitting).

 

Sano becoming a middle of the order force is one of the handful of things that must happen for the Twins to be a playoff contender in the next couple of years. Otherwise it is going to be a long time in the wilderness.

[TheLeviathan]

Oh yeah...that thing we should've been doing all along....

[Richie the Rally Goat]

I was in favor last year of putting him in RF, but now I'm at the point that capturing defensive value is far less important than doing what it takes to get his bat going (though I don't buy the narrative that putting him in the OF had much impact on his hitting).

 

Sano becoming a middle of the order force is one of the handful of things that must happen for the Twins to be a playoff contender in the next couple of years. Otherwise it is going to be a long time in the wilderness.

i do somewhat buy into the "playing RF impacted his hitting" narrative. As others have posted, he's a human being and there are lots of things that impact us at work that are not necessarily 1:1 correlation, both in the workplace and outside of it.

 

I feel that getting some defensive utility from Sano would be icing on the cake, but agree by all means get that bat going first

[kab21]

I can wish all that I want that my girlfriend will turn into a supermodel (I actually don't) but that doesn't mean that it will happen. The same goes for Sano becoming lighter. This isn't a fault for him. This is the body that he was given. He could eat healthier and work out more (cardio intensive) but he would likely only lower his body fat% while not losing any weight. I could actually care less what is actual weight is. The body fat% is the real number here. Is there any indication that this higher than a normal player? 

[Old Twins Cap]

Every player Sano's size in MLB history (okay 99%) of the sport has been a 1B.  But because of Joe Maurer, Sano is basically being shoe-horned into 3B.

 

That might work for awhile, it might not.  But, it definitely flies in the face of basic baseball common sense.

 

Hopefully, Levine and Falvey see this for what it is and will plan player development and acquisitions accordingly.