There’s a lot of talk right now about the Twins possibly considering sending Miguel Sano back to the minors.
According to Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press, Sano could be sent down when Trevor Plouffe comes back from a rehab assignment next week. With Sano slumping at the plate and hitting coach Tom Brunansky calling into question Sano’s work ethic during an interview on Twin Cities radio, things aren’t looking very bright right now for Sano.
“I think Miggy as a young man is still trying to have a balance where he understands this is a huge priority for him,” manager Paul Molitor said Thursday, according to the Twins. “It’s a huge responsibility. You have to minimize the things that interfere with the skills you have. So [Brunansky] is not wrong. I think that’s a fair statement by Bruno. But it’s been the case for a lot of years for a lot of players.”
Notion that Miguel Sano "doesn't want to be great" is very funny to me. Yeah, he seems like a guy who's always settled for just being OK.
— Nick Nelson (@NickNelsonMN) August 4, 2016
Sano has been slumping at the plate since returning from a hamstring injury in early July. He’s hitting .243 since with 4 home runs and 15 RBIs since then – and he’s struck out 42 times in 103 at-bats (41 percent). His last 15 games have been worse, hitting just .219 with 1 homer while also making too mistakes on the bases.
Plouffe was hitting .252 with 7 homers and 27 RBIs before his injury and he was playing a much better third base than Sano.
Plouffe has made 4 errors in 49 games at third base while Sano has made 11 errors in just 26 games at third.
