Has Miguel Sano Met Expectations?

He is just so....streaky.

Coming up with two outs, men on base.

You say "Don't swing at that low outside pitch" and nine out of ten times he swings. He like tries hard not to do it for a day, taking one-two-three pitches...and maybe drawing a walk.

But what do we have to do to keep him from going after a pitch all pitchers know he will swing at 90% of his at bats?

Every ten at bats can you expect two hits, one of which is a homer. One walk. four strikeouts?

I'll have to say, he has not. I'd rate him as a good glove but far from Golden Glove caliber. But what disappoints me most is his inconsistance at the plate and all those SOs. Sano' is strong, quick and has a good eye which are are great qualities to be a great hitter. 

This is his moment of truth. At the end of 2021 I liked his more compact swing. That swing will result in less towering HRs but create less SOs and more hits, which many will be HRs because he's so strong. If he can stay with that swing, he'll be well worth his hype if not it's time to cut him off.

Both Sano' and Kepler has had a tough time adjusting their swing. A former article on Kepler this off season, I saw his swing and it seemed like when the ball was leaving his bat it was going to the opposite field. It's a moment of truth for both of them but I'm very hopeful.

I had hope for Sano, but no he has not lived up to my expectations, but then I am not of the opinion that Ks don't matter.

IMO, he has exceeded my expectations of player signed at 17, he has played in the majors for 7 years (8 if there is a season this year), has hit 161 homers, has a career OBP of .329, SLG of .491, and 8.4 career WAR.

With that said, after making the majors he has not my expectations, his .238 is a bit low, his age 25 season was an embarrassment, and he is too streaky. After his first 3 years in the majors I was expecting him to be a 2.5 and up WAR player, and he has only got there once in the last 4 years.

I will say that if we got his performance out of all of the international signings and high draft picks, the Twins would more than likely be good to great every year.

in being fair,  we drafted him at 16 years of age.  Being that he made it to the show is beating all reasonable expectations.  Though I would have liked to see more production.  in terms of more AB, HRs, RBIs and fewer K's.  but he can still be a 400 HR hitter with 1000-1200 RBI if he gets after it when all is said and done.  I hope he has more years with the Twins after this one.

Sano needs to move on from the Twins.  Because if he is traded, say next week or this summer, he will then be free to become the super-star we all expected.

He has had his moments like the grand slam to beat Cleveland. He has been pretty good overall, but as pointed out by others his inconsistency, protracted slumps and high volume strikeout totals diminish his shine.

11 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

He certainly hasn't lived up to the expectations of being the next Miguel Cabrera. He's been a good major league player, but not the 3 hole hitting, .300 BA, 40 HR guy people had in their dreams. From the outside he never seemed to have the desire or "need" to be a great hitter, but was happy being a good power hitter. I wonder what he may have been if he were 10-15 years older and played in the era just before this and 200 Ks a year was still somewhat embarrassing and people still cared a lot about BA. He fell in love with 450 foot HRs and slugging % which played right into this era of baseball. But when he's been at his best he's sprayed the ball all over with a nice short swing. He's disappointed, but still been more than useful during his Twins career.

I mean, to be fair, a Miguel Cabrera comes along once every, what...10 to 15 years?  No 16 year old should ever have that expectation put on him.  Cabrera is Top 30 all time in HR, RBI (meaning he's been good for a long time--he'll definitely be top 30 in hits soone enough too), and top 60 in SLG, WAR, wRC+, and OPS.  He's one of the handful of best hitters ever, and a surefire first-ballot HOF, with close to a unanimous vote.  If that is the expectation for a 16 year old, the problem is not the kid, it's the expectation.

Has Miguel Sano Met Expectations?

Not my expectations.... but in general. Fair or not, Sano was projected to be a HOF player from the beginning. Movie and all. So the short answer is........... no.

Justify it all you want, unless he has a renaissance and becomes the sustained late career consistent hitter ala Nelson Cruz, no HOF will be in his future. And there are about 5 young players right now, and some more established young vets, that are in the one in 10-15 years of Cabrera realm, so it really is not that rare....... by 5 to 10 times....... 

But it certainly isn't Sano.

8 hours ago, Brandon said:

in being fair,  we drafted him at 16 years of age.  Being that he made it to the show is beating all reasonable expectations.  Though I would have liked to see more production.  in terms of more AB, HRs, RBIs and fewer K's.  but he can still be a 400 HR hitter with 1000-1200 RBI if he gets after it when all is said and done.  I hope he has more years with the Twins after this one.

 

Hate to be the guy to say it, but he was an international free agent signing, rather than a draftee. Have a good day. 

No he has not met expectations  with his streaky hitting ..

His rookie season he was able to hit to all fields and was more a clutch hitter  and has gone backwards on his approach since than with some injuries and demotions , maybe he should stop listening to all the advise like Buxton did and hit like sano used to hit  ...

20 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

100% yes. Odds are that a player doesn't even make the majors, let alone be REALLY good for a year or two and a legit MLB most other years. Yes. Did he meet our hopes? No, not yet. But I still think he can.

This.

He's been about a 9 WAR player, splitting the difference between bWAR and fWAR. Maybe with his national prospect ranking levels you would expect more, but even by that he is probably only 2-3 wins short, at most, of the average.

On a side note, anybody looking for content to produce? Create a list of average career earnings by Baseball America Top 100, using the year a player debuted as the data point for each spot. I would love to see that. Could also do by highest rank anytime before debut. 

He has not met my expectations. He looked like a Miguel Cabrera clone when he first came up, massive power and could put the ball into play and would go the other way with a pitch. Now it’s all about pulling every pitch, strikeouts be damned. If he would strive for more contact he’d still hit 30+ home runs, 100+ rbi and average .275. 

He's been good, but I was hoping for more. Making it to MLB and producing as he has is rare. That being said, there has been little improvement to his game or batting approach since he came up. I can't speak to work ethic, but there seems to be contentment with the an approach that (200-ish Ks/year) produces results that are far from ideal.