Hot Bat Earns Miguel Sano Twins' Player Of The Week Honors

Interesting about his defense.  I wonder if rust is a factor there too.  I remember in 2013 he made a lot of errors in the first half of the year and turned it around in the second. 

If he doesn't cut down on the errors, I have a hard time seeing him stick at 3B.

Trevor Plouffe made plenty of errors in his first season at third. Above that, he also had to work on his first step. Developed into a very decent third basemen. Sano could wind up doing the same. 

I am guessing you mean 2012?  He played in 95 games and made 17 errors.  One every 5.5 games.  Sano has 10 in 33 games, one every 3.3 games.

I think he could do it and I am not writing him off here. Just noting that he needs a dramatic improvement upon this rate.

I know that he was likely committed to his rehab, and position players don't have nearly the recovery time that pitchers do, but I have to assume that he'll continue to get better as he A: shakes off the rust offensively and defensively and B: continues to strengthen and grow accustomed to his repaired elbow. He was out of baseball for a long time.

Point with Plouffe is that the Twins do have patience for players to work through some shaky play. Look at Danny Santana right now as well. Sano's got a high error rate but it doesn't have to be a position-killer.

 

Corey Koskie - Age-22 season (A): 36 errors in 109 games

Miguel Sano - Age-20 season (A+-AA): 23 errors in 120 games

 

Again, errors are dumb in defensive evaluation. As the clip shows above, Sano has decent athleticism. Hopefully he can improve the decision-making/concentration in order to keep from making the routine errors.

Just curious, what defensive metrics exist for minor league players?  Outside of errors.  Didn't think much existed...

Three and four years ago in ST, I got the chance to watch TK work with Sano on one of the smaller infield skins. Interesting couple of sessions a year apart. Both in how Kelly works, and how little progress Sano had made over they year in between. (He got hurt after that.)

By my eyeball test, Sano may never be 'average major league caliber' defensively. I'm not piling on here, but there has hardly been any discussion on why folks think he could be called up to play 3rd. That would be a grave mistake at this point. He's young, and it could work out someday, But not in the very near future, imo.

No doubt in my mind that Sano CAN be an MLB third baseman. As Parker wote above, it's more about concentration because he is a good athlete, and he has decent range, and he has a very powerful arm.

 

Will he play there? I don't know. That might be dependent upon other things, such as how good Plouffe has become and will be. 

 

I have little doubt that Sano will become a very good MLB power hitter.

When you see the clip that Parker included, how can anyone even dispute his defensive chops? For a third baseman, he's really the total package. I am in agreement with others, including Terry Ryan, that the errors are not even a concern at this point. It is interesting to ponder though. Why do we make mistakes? Seth, you attribute it here to occasional lapses in concentration. I suppose that's certainly possible. But consider this: a hundred thousand times you stop at a red light, but one time you blow through it. Were you concentrating in that moment, no; but were you really concentrating any more during the hundred thousand other times? I am a carpenter, and say I make a hundred thousand accurate measurements in month, but once in a while I inch trick a measurement- I don't think I am concentrating any less in the instance that I make the mistake. Further, it's the kind of mistake I made much more frequently when I was less experienced- even though I was probably concentrating harder on that type of task than I do now. My point here isn't necessarily to say that Sano's proclivity for defensive mistakes are not due a lack of concentration (who can know what's another's mind at any given time?). My point is to suggest that it is rather (or additionally) lack of experience. Maybe even as simple as muscle memory. Even on plays that appear routine, there must be infinite possibility for subtle differences. It would take countless in-game repetition to become automatic. Sano has only been playing third for a couple of seasons, and the difference between third and short is significant. I will say, as a middle infielder, I wanted nothing to do with third base. It's weird over there. Seth, as you say he is an athlete, he has the hands, he has the arm. He's going to be a third baseman. In my opinion, his bat is ready now. I don't think that what happens with Sano is dependent at all on Trevor Plouffe. Plouffe will be, what, 29 this summer? He's playing really well, as he should, being in his prime. Do we have reason to project continued improvement and increased production from him? Perhaps? I don't know, but it seems to me most players begin trending downward once they reach their thirties. A down-trending Joe Mauer is palatable, and certainly Torii Hunter seems to have bucked the trend altogether, but a down-trending Trevor Plouffe with a lurking Miguel Angel... no way. 

Trevor Plouffe made plenty of errors in his first season at third. Above that, he also had to work on his first step. Developed into a very decent third basemen. Sano could wind up doing the same. 

I see the Twins Miguel being several seasons ahead of the Marlins/Tigers Miguel in the 'we can't have this guy at 3B' talk.  MCab only played 2 full seasons at 3B (30+ games 2 other seasons) for the Marlins at age 23/24.  It seemed like more but Lowell was the 3Bman for the 1st 2.5 seasons and in some ways is the Twins' Plouffe. 

The Tigers only played Cabrera at 3B because they went all in on offense with VMart and Prince with zero other options at 3B.  It's not a move that they wanted to make but roster construction necessitated it.

I may be in the minority here, but Mr. Plouffe has never impressed me as an outstanding 3B.  I know his metrics have improved markedly, but going from absolute suck to competent is kind of a low bar, donchya think?  I've not the time nor inclination to analyze a ton of intense stats, but eyeball wise, I still see his positioning and first step, although greatly improved, as less than stellar.  Granted, he's made plenty of highlight reel plays, but some of those I've seen needn't have been highlight-reel quality with better positioning.  

As for Mr. Sano, well, I'm old enough to remember a certain Idahoan holding down 3B in the late 60's-early 70's.  And even as a little kid playing Pee Wee ball,  I understood you sacrifice some defense for a load of offense at that position.  I don't know what the fuss is about having Sano become an elite-level fielder as well as hoping for 40 HRs out of him annually.  If he can play an adequate 3B, (as Mr. P is doing now), and slug the ball around, I'll live without a few Gold Gloves over there.

As the old-timers used to say -oops, guess I am one, now-- the biggest thing you need to have at 3rd is a "strong chest." Yep.  He's got that.

These awards are the kiss of death. Button is lauded for his bat finally coming alive and he immediately goes back into the toilet. Sano wins player of the month and he immediately goes 0-8 with 6 k's. Apparently talking about minor league hitter's streaks is tantamount to talking about a pitcher's in-progress no hitter.

I may be in the minority here, but Mr. Plouffe has never impressed me as an outstanding 3B.  I know his metrics have improved markedly, but going from absolute suck to competent is kind of a low bar, donchya think?  I've not the time nor inclination to analyze a ton of intense stats, but eyeball wise, I still see his positioning and first step, although greatly improved, as less than stellar.  Granted, he's made plenty of highlight reel plays, but some of those I've seen needn't have been highlight-reel quality with better positioning.  

As for Mr. Sano, well, I'm old enough to remember a certain Idahoan holding down 3B in the late 60's-early 70's.  And even as a little kid playing Pee Wee ball,  I understood you sacrifice some defense for a load of offense at that position.  I don't know what the fuss is about having Sano become an elite-level fielder as well as hoping for 40 HRs out of him annually.  If he can play an adequate 3B, (as Mr. P is doing now), and slug the ball around, I'll live without a few Gold Gloves over there.

As the old-timers used to say -oops, guess I am one, now-- the biggest thing you need to have at 3rd is a "strong chest." Yep.  He's got that.

Strawman arguments.  Nobody and I mean nobody says Sano needs to become an elite level fielder.  I think he is several years away from the possibility (not certainty) of playing defense anywhere near Plouffe.

In some ways it compares to Harper and Myers.  Both were catchers and would have had to stay in the minors at least another 2 years (guess) for their defense to be acceptable but probably still poor.  Instead they moved positions and were fasttracked.  Sano's bat should be ready sometime between 9/2015 and 6/2016.  I'm not willing to wait an additional 2 years (guess) for adequate but below average defense or put up with one of the worst fielders in the majors for a couple of years.