Front Page: Miguel Sano Finally Met Expectations in 2019

[Cooper Carlson]

Miguel Sano was supposed to be the next great Twins player right alongside with Byron Buxton back when they were playing together in the minor leagues. His first three seasons in the majors were good, but not anything to get extremely excited about (.844 OPS, 124 wRC+). He was supposed to take that next big step in 2018, but that quickly became a disaster of a season and a lot of fans started to lose hope in him. The 2019 season was seen as a make-or-break campaign for the 26-year-old third baseman, and he certainly outplayed the poor expectations to solidify his spot in the middle of the Twins batting order.If you remember back to this past offseason, you'll remember it was a huge one for Sano. He seemed to fully grasp the idea the Twins had for him by dedicating his time to eating healthily and working out in order to get into peak physical form once again for the season. It was obvious the Twins still had big plans for him when new manager Rocco Baldelli personally flew out to his home town in the Dominican Republic to connect with Sano for the first time.

 

Download attachment: baldelli sano.png

 

Sadly, before the season began, all of the offseason excitement for Miguel was halted and doubt started to slowly creep back in when it was announced he suffered a heel injury while away from the team. It suddenly seemed like not much had changed, and we would once again be seeing a lackluster season from Sano. Luckily for the fans and for the Twins, Miguel Sano would actually turn out to be better than ever.

 

When Sano finally did return to the team in the middle of May he got off to a hot start with a .963 OPS in May. He then completely bottomed out to the point that every fan on Twitter was calling for his immediate release when he hit .184/.253/.395 (.648) with a 45.8 K% from June 1 to June 27, when he went 0-for-7 with three strikeouts.

 

The very next day, amidst all the criticism, Sano went out and blasted two home runs to get his final three-month offensive surge started. From June 28 to the end of the regular season, Miguel Sano had the fifth-most home runs, 11th-best wRC+, eighth-highest slugging%, and fifth-highest ISO in the major leagues. He also crushed the ball on a daily basis, having the second-highest average exit velocity at 94.4 mph, and the highest hard hit% at 57.2, just barely ahead of Aaron Judge.

 

He finished the season with a .247/.346/.576 (.923) line and a wRC+ of 124. This came with 34 home runs and 76 RBIs, which were both career highs. For a guy who entered the season surrounded by doubt and with a lot to prove to himself, the fans, and his organization, he definitely showed the kind of player he is capable of being when healthy.

 

While the fielding is still a future question mark for Sano, who had -5 defensive runs saved and a -6.7 ultimate zone rating (career low), the bat definitely plays and it is more than good enough to where they will have to either stick with him at third base, or try moving him to first for the future.

 

Overall, the impacts the front office, Rocco Baldelli, and especially Nelson Cruz have made on Miguel Sano seem to have helped him turn the corner to become the player the Twins had envisioned as he was rising through the system. Now entering 2020 with a clean slate and a solidified place on this team, it will be interesting to see if he continues to take even more strides at the plate.

 

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MORE FROM TWINS DAILY

• The 2020 Offseason Handbook Is Now Available for Preorder!
• Hot Corner Consideration: Potential Third Base Alternatives to Miguel Sano
• ALDS Takeaways, Part 2: Miguel Sanó and the Athleticism Gap

 

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[Matthew Taylor]

Nice piece, Cooper!

 

I'll be fascinated to see how the Twins see (or don't see) Sano fitting into their long term plans.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Hopefully, he still has some ceiling there and can put out a few seasons with a line similar to post June 28 Sano.. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Thanks Cooper. Nicely done.

[insagt1]

SAno is still in a work in progress. His power numbers speak for themselves, and many of his HR's were very timely. But so were his frequent k's. And some defensive deficiencies. He fell apart in post season.  Again, a work in progress. Does he fit into the Twins future? Perhaps.Guess we'll have to see.

If you projected his HR's and k's over an entire season, he would probably have led the league in both. But projecting is unrealistic.

Edited October 24, 2019 by insagt1

[Number3]

Problem remains that he is just an average defensive player and unpredictable at the plate. Hopefully he will show up at ST and be ready to play an entire season so the real Miguel Sano can reveal himself. First base does seem like the most logical position so I would rather see him spend the off season working on drills at that position than playing games in a DR League and celebrating meaningless championships.

[ashbury]

Problem remains that he is just an average defensive player and unpredictable at the plate.

Biggest mistake teams make with top talent is to focus on what they can't do, instead of on what they can. Earl Weaver with the old Orioles^* had a reputation for bucking that trend.

 

An average defender who has Sano's hitting ability plus is "predictable" in his production becomes a shoo-in Hall of Famer, most likely. We're setting the bar pretty high if his present unpredictable production is debatable.

 

^{* _{OK, not the really, really Old Orioles}}

[Battle ur tail off]

He shrunk in the postseason for sure, but he wasn't alone in this regard. 

 

I saw a much different hitter the second half of the year. His patience at the plate is what makes him good. He had this and showed it right away when he came up from the minors to start his career. 

 

The swing and miss is still something he struggles with, but I think that can be corrected as well. We saw what happens when he is able to catch up with those fastballs, he hammers them and becomes one of the most dangerous bats in the game. 

 

As for his defense. I will be honest. I do not really care about it. The bat is so good I would work on perfecting that even more with the thought that eventually he moves over to 1B or takes over the DH spot when Cruz retires. 

 

If it's me, I DEFINITELY have him as part of my plans for this team going forward. 

Edited October 24, 2019 by Battle ur tail off

[puckstopper1]

 

SAno is still in a work in progress. His power numbers speak for themselves, and many of his HR's were very timely. But so were his frequent k's. And some defensive deficiencies. He fell apart in post season.  Again, a work in progress. Does he fit into the Twins future? Perhaps.Guess we'll have to see.

If you projected his HR's and k's over an entire season, he would probably have led the league in both. But projecting is unrealistic.

 

This!

[ashbury]

I saw a much different hitter the second half of the year. His patience at the plate is what makes him good. He had this and showed it right away when he came up from the minors to start his career. 

 

Yep. I liked that so much about him as a prospect. An anecdote that I've repeated more than once: at Ft Myers, six springs ago I think, I watched a plate appearance by him, against some unnamed high-A prospect probably, since that was where he was slated to go too. Miguel took the first pitch for a strike. He smoked an absolute rocket down the line on the next pitch - just foul. At 0-2, the pitcher then teased him with four outside pitches. Miguel's body language made very clear that he intended to do serious damage to a pitch in the zone. He accepted the walk. I absolutely loved it. Aggressive yet patient. (Reminds me, now that I think of it, of Arraez's entertaining pinch-walk this season, though different in nature. People who think walks are inherently boring, I just don't know how to watch a game with them.)

 

Sano probably lost some confidence when pitchers in the majors proved harder to read. But, he has that same look as before, when things are right.

[PDX Twin]

I wonder how much of Sano's impressive numbers this season were a result of the live ball. It really plays to his game, turning fly balls into homeruns while strikeouts are still strikeouts.

[Battle ur tail off]

 

I wonder how much of Sano's impressive numbers this season were a result of the live ball. It really plays to his game, turning fly balls into homeruns while strikeouts are still strikeouts.

 

Well, the balls he hit over the fence were hit about a mile and like was stated earlier, he was towards the top of the league in exit velocity. Hit the ball hard, good things happen. Swing at good pitches, good things happen. Did he get an extra couple HRs from the live ball? Maybe, but it's not something I think would drastically change his stats or the results of what he does. 

[Cooper Carlson]

 

SAno is still in a work in progress. His power numbers speak for themselves, and many of his HR's were very timely. But so were his frequent k's. And some defensive deficiencies. He fell apart in post season.  Again, a work in progress. Does he fit into the Twins future? Perhaps.Guess we'll have to see.

If you projected his HR's and k's over an entire season, he would probably have led the league in both. But projecting is unrealistic.

Strikeouts are definitely okay if you make up for them with bombs.

 

Stanton 2018: 2nd in total strikeouts, 4th in total home runs

Judge 2017: 1st in total strikeouts, 2nd in total home runs

[Cooper Carlson]

 

I wonder how much of Sano's impressive numbers this season were a result of the live ball. It really plays to his game, turning fly balls into homeruns while strikeouts are still strikeouts.

He finished 10th in average home run distance (minimum 10 homers). He will likely be ok when the balls are normal again.

[Thegrin]

Even my wife would gripe when Sano swung at a pitch, low and outside.  Fortunately, that happened less and less as the season progressed. 

[jkcarew]

The organization seems to be short on third-basemen and first-basemen. By that, I mean, prospects that are infielders and likely (in the near future) to hit at the level of a major-league 3rd-baseman...or the even-higher bar of a major league 1st-baseman. For that reason alone...and with all the holes to be filled elsewhere (primarily pitching)...we need Sano to keep making strides...even small ones.

[Lasorda_This_Out]

Personally, what I liked the most about Sano in 2019 vs prior years is his new seriousness in the dugout. In prior years he was the dugout jokester, throwing sunflower seeds at team players being interviewed, mugging for the camera, etc. Not that doing stuff to keep things loose is wrong but there is a time and place for that on occasion.

The 2019 Miguel Sano had a "game face" during the games I watched (most) that looked like a serious guy trying to be a true MLB professional. Excellent!

 

It's been commented widely in many venues but Miguel's demeanor change in 2019

starts and continues(?) with the fantastic presence of Nelson Cruz as a role model.

IMHO...thanks!

 

 

[Nine of twelve]

I think most people don't realize the seriousness of his injury in 2017. This was a major injury which required major surgery. That rendered him unable to prepare properly for the 2018 season and the results showed. Then came the very encouraging 2018-2019 offseason interrupted by the fluke injury which turned out to be more serious than everyone thought at the time. When the team brought him to the majors with no spring training facing players who were in midseason form he struggled, exactly as would be expected. Finally, after approximately two lost years, we began to see the true Miguel Sano. If he can play a full season in good health he has 50-HR talent no matter how slippery the baseball is. I predict he will be the 2020 AL MVP.

[Nine of twelve]

 

First base does seem like the most logical position.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this. This will probably be the case 5-8 years from now but not yet.

[DocBauer]

Where is Thrylos in this conversation. Lol

 

He, like me, will point out OPS numbers not only in the minors, but at the MLB level.

 

Look, like a lot of great sluggers, be will SO some, more than we might like, but he can/has/Will hit decently. He will also take walks. "Haters" will focus on 2018 and that stretch in June where he was ABYSMALL for outside pitches. But what did he do? He adjusted.

 

Defensively, he's OK. There is no debate about his arm. Even a year ago, there was debate about chasing foul balls. I think that debate has been put to rest. Even with diet and conditioning, he is a large, muscular man. He is surprisingly nimble charging a ball. Personally, I think the former SS has decent to good hands. Some disagree. OK. But his lateral range may always be suspect. Even with time, work, development, being only average defensively wouldn't exactly be a bad thing.

 

I DO THINK he could be a good 1B, tranitioning his 3B skills to 1B. But his bat/production has finally arrived, and will probably only get better. And I am more than fine with him as the 3B for 2020.

 

Trades may mess this up, probably will to some degree, but a year, or so, from now, I'd love to see a combination of Sano/Lewis/Kirillof/Larnach/Rooker/etc man 1B/3B/DH/OF in different, versatile combinations.