Sano: Endgame

Miguel Sano, 2017 All Star, the slugger who was supposed to become our Miguel Cabrera and anchor our lineup for the next decade......demoted to class A.

As falls from grace in the history of Minnesota sports go, I'm not sure one has ever been so fast. Perhaps only Daunte Culpepper, who went from near MVP to former Viking in about a year. But there was a major injury involved there.

Sano has been hurt too, but this fall has been more due to what's between the ears.

Miguel Sano could be one of the biggest stars in the game. But the dangerous slugger who had unusually slick plate discipline in 2015 (which has regressed year after year) now no longer even slugs. Sure, pitchers adjusted, but they aren't making this guy swing at EVERYTHING, and poorly. He has become as easy an out as there is in baseball. Unless he is served a big fat meatball over the plate he's hopeless. And either the Twins coaches have just done nothing to correct this, or Sano himself hasn't grasped how far his star has fallen, and committed to the work, to the scouting of pitchers. I was struck recently by quotes from Eddie Rosario about how much he does do the work. About how he remembers past experiences with pitchers and what they do, and how THEY may adjust to him. Rosario does the work.  And Rosario has become a star.

Sano appears to do nothing. He never seems to have any plan at the plate, any awareness of what the pitcher will be doing. 50/50 If he even bothers to run out grounders.

So this is now the endgame with Sano. Thankfully the Twins did not give this guy a big contract already, as some of the local media know-it-alls insisted they had to. He's not being paid a ton of money, so the Twins hold all the power here. So Miguel, you either take this wake up call, and accept that you have to put in the work to tap into that elite talent, which in turn will make you a multi-millionaire very soon, or you cement your legacy as one of the most disappointing figures in the history of Minnesota sports.