WATCH: Twins prospect Miguel Sano hits towering home run http://t.co/NskEeYbG3R pic.twitter.com/VUGGHE6SVC
— CBS Sports MLB (@CBSSportsMLB) March 14, 2015
Twins fans will have to wait to see those towering home runs jump off the bat of highly-touted prospect Miguel Sano at Target Field.
The Twins cut Sano from Major League camp and optioned the 21-year-old third baseman to Double-A Chattanooga on Monday.
The move doesn’t really come as a surprise. Sano missed all of last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow. Twins general manager Terry Ryan said last fall there was no chance Sano would open the season in the big leagues.
“(Twins manager Paul Molitor) told me I’m going to start in Double-A,” Sano told the Pioneer Press on Monday. “I’ll have the same plan I had over here. … I want to have a good season. I’m really excited to go to the other side. Everything is good.”
He was hitting .200 in six games on the spring, but hit a pair of massive home runs.
Sano was one of three prospects the Twins sent to the minors on Monday. Pitchers Jason Wheeler and Lester Oliveros were both sent to Triple-A Rochester.
According to 1500 ESPN, Sano will head to Double-A where he will have a chance to work on his defense. At 6-foot-4, 260 pounds, the Twins hope that despite Sano’s size he can remain at third base.
He may not have to be in Chattanooga for too long.
“Probably one month,” Sano told the Pioneer Press. “A couple of weeks. I don’t know. I’ll play the same.”
Sano, who was rated MLB.com’s 12th-best prospect, will play alongside another one of the team’s top prospects at Double-A. Byron Buxton was sent there in the first wave of cuts the team made on Sunday.
