Finally, on July 1, the Twins pulled the plug and moved him back to third base. I need to run in from the outfield to come hit. It's a good decision to make, and I never can say no, but I want to say thanks to God for giving me a chance to come back to third base.
Throughout, be it from fatigue, lack of focus, immaturity, the grief still simmering in the back of his mind or any number of other reasons, Sano gave away far too many at-bats in , several Twins acknowledge. Among others, Antony had several conversations with him throughout the summer "trying to help him through some things," Antony says. He takes pride in it, rather than expecting something to be handed to him. When someone is critical, it hurts him.
For several days after he was named as an All-Star in early July, Sano's entire body language changed. An always-gregarious personality became even more bubbly. His smile was brighter, his enthusiasm greater. Though he leads the majors with strikeouts, his. I still think that's going to be part of his deal. He's a threat to get a hit, not just a homer. It was Radcliff who, working in tandem with Guerrero, went to former Minnesota GM Bill Smith in '09 and asked if he would please go to ownership to sign this kid?
The Twins already were over their international budget allotment at the time, but owner Jim Pohlad told Smith, if you think this is the right move, go get it done.
They trust me. They believe in me. There's more for Sano to master. Joe Mauer and Brian Dozier are the veteran leaders in the Minnesota clubhouse, but, as Molitor says, Sano wants to be a leader, too, and his influence is growing every day. The manager sees it in the clubhouse, and in the dugout. When the Twins celebrated their World Series championship during a Target Field ceremony last month, Molitor happened to stand next to Sano at the dugout railing.
He had this huge smile on his face. He was engaged. It shows. He's starting to understand. When Mauer smashed the first walk-off home run of his career to beat Boston on May 5, Sano raced from the on-deck circle to greet Mauer at the plate, then lifted him up into the air triumphantly as if Mauer, at 6'5", pounds, was a pint-sized Jose Altuve.
And I think those little, small glimpses of how he views winning have become really [regular], so that's really cool, too. Knowing all that he's gone through, the Twins treasure both Sano's prodigious home runs and his contagious laughter. Often, they seem to feed off each other.
Like that rescued bird earlier this season, Sano has regained his strength and taken flight. It is evident in his All-Star status…and it was evident when he deployed a rubber snake in the dugout on a day when he was not in the lineup, practically giving poor pitching coach Neil Allen a heart attack on the spot. The laughs that followed engulfed the entire dugout. Kintzler chuckles when he recalls someone asking teammate Ervin Santana earlier this season whom he would not let babysit his kids, and Santana replied Sano because "you can't let a kid babysit a kid.
Every day this season before he was traded, Kintzler reminded Sano: Stay humble. By June, Sano was saying it back to Kintzler. I've been humbled many times. You stay humble,'" Kintzler says. A month after the Mauer walk-off, when Kintzler suffered a rare blown save opportunity, in Seattle , Sano was the first teammate on the scene again. Then, when Kintzler notched another save right after Sano was named as an All-Star, the big third baseman bear-hugged him on the field and told the closer, "You're my All-Star.
You're my All-Star. From when they were teammates in '15 to now, Hunter says, Sano has bounced back, grown and matured in so many ways.
It's allowed me to be who I am and it's helped me mature more. With Dylan Miguel at home and a career just starting to find its rhythm, Sano has found it easier to make others smile. Why, a couple of weeks ago at the Oakland Coliseum, a woman wearing a Minnesota jersey held up a sign reading, "Miguel Sano, can I have a hug?
Out of the darkness that once enveloped him, a guiding light has emerged, attracting teammates, fans and, yes, even birds.
The announcement Wednesday that he had signed with a Major League Baseball MLB team came after nearly three months of waiting: July 2 was the date that Sano and all players who had recently turned 16 became eligible to sign professional contracts.
Just a few months ago, Sano seemed to have an easy path laid out for him. As the top-rated prospect in the Dominican, he had tried out for nearly all of the MLB teams in the country. He had top executives eyeing him contentedly: This shortstop was a sure thing, a future superstar.
Not so the path to the U. The problem of age fraud has become seemingly endemic in the Dominican Republic. When a player is found to have a fraudulent identity or to have misrepresented his age, MLB suspends him for one year. The Pirates were the team mostly in the news trying to aggressively sign Sano. The Pirates were unable to do so after Sano's agent and the Pirates' scouting director could not come up with a deal. There are other baseball critics that have stated that there were no other teams interested in Sano.
And it was just a bidding war between Sano and any team that wanted to negotiate. One thing is certain, that Miguel Angel Sano will have many eyes on him as he develops in the Twins farm system and could be the team's shortstop of the future.
Things are looking good for the Twins' future. Enjoy our content?
0コメント