Neither Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano have played a single Major League game. Yet, the two 21-year-olds might be the most talked about players in the Twins organization.
For now, both remain with the Chattanooga Lookouts – the Twins’ double-A minor league affiliate. Both got off to a slow start after missing most of last season due to injuries, and while some teams have been hustling their top prospects to the Majors, the Twins appear to be remaining patient before calling either up.
Buxton has either been hot or cold through the first month of the season. He started off slow, warmed up, then as noted by Puckett’s Pond he fell into a slump last week.
“A week after hitting .338 with a pair of doubles and five triples in his last 10 games, Buxton is now hitting .171 in his last ten games. The Lookouts played eight games this week. Buxton hit .147 with one home run, a double and a triple. He did have a three-hit performance that saw him fall a home run short of hitting for the cycle.”
That was Saturday night as Buxton busted out of his 1-for-21 slump, which included his Minor League-leading seventh triple this year. Buxton has been a triples machine in the minors, he now has 31 of them in 239 Minor League games.
“Out of the box, I always think triples,” Buxton told MiLB.com this month. “So I try to get out of the box as fast as I can and get around first so I can see where the ball is at. I just take my reads from there.”
It has been a similar story for Sano, who like Buxton got out to a slow start, but he’s been rolling recently. Puckett’s Pond notes that the power-hitting third baseman had a big week.
“Sano was named the Twins MILB player of the week. Sano hit .379 with three home runs, four doubles and eight runs bated in. Sano’s week included a game in he hit two home runs, including the game-winning homer.”
How long before either Sano or Buxton come up? We’ll have to wait and see, but Twins general manager Terry Ryan hints to FOX Sports North that either could be called up later this season.
“I think it’d be wrong to start putting it into the equation quite this early. Now if we were talking later on in the year, everything being equal, I’d suspect (Buxton) would be in that conversation,” Ryan said. “He got off to a very slow start. He’s caught up. Let’s say it’s six weeks later and he’s pounding it like he has for the last two weeks, then he’s starting to force his hand.”
