Written By Brandon Warne (ColdOmaha.com)
Photo Credit: Brian Curski
It may come as beautiful music to the ears of Twins fans, but it sounds like the Miguel Sano experiment in the outfield is done. “I primarily see him at third base and DH’ing,” Molitor said in his pregame availability from the home dugout. Molitor wouldn’t rule out that Sano could play outfield again in a pinch, but it sounds like that plan has been aborted for at least the time being.
Sano did take some grounders at first base during PFPs, working on flips to pitchers, but he did so without the use of a first base mitt. Joe Mauer, Trevor Plouffe and Max Kepler were also in on the action, with each donning the requisite glove however.
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The Twins activated Sano from the 15-day disabled list on Friday morning, and sent struggling slugger Byung Ho Park down to Rochester in a corresponding move. Sano hit just .160/.300/.440 at Rochester on his eight-game rehab stint which spanned 30 plate appearances, but if one figures the swing will get going in the near term — read: it should — it might as well be with the big club. It’s perhaps telling that in the eight games Sano played down there, his playing time was divided as such:
- 3B – five starts
- DH – two starts
- RF – one start
The writing seems to be on the wall that Sano will DH in the near term while the team figures out what exactly it’s going to do with Trevor Plouffe. Sending Park down was a no-brainer move, as his season line is down to .191/.275/.409 and he went just 9-for-66 in June (.136/.224/.303) while ceding a considerable amount of playing time to other players late in the month. In an ideal world, Park would go to Rochester and get his swing back while Plouffe does the same with the big club, which allows the team to move Plouffe at the deadline and insert Sano as the starter at third base for the final two months of the season.
Park to Rochester puts the Red Wings above the 25-man roster limit, so there’ll have to be a corresponding move that’ll be announced at a later time. Park has 72 hours to report to Triple-A.