Twins could move top prospect Sano to outfield

When Minnesota Twins highly touted prospect Miguel Sano returns from Tommy John surgery next season, he could be plying his trade at a new position. 

“Sano could go to the outfield if he had to,” Twins general manager Terry Ryan told Phil Miller of the Star Tribune. 

The potential move comes as the result of Trevor Plouffe's emergence at third base this season, in addition to Sano having undergone elbow surgery in March. 

“[Sano] can run enough. He certainly can throw. His ticket up here is going to be that bat he possesses — he’s got the type of power that everybody’s looking for,” Ryan said. “So if we had a problem at third and you had too much talent over there, which is a good problem to have, you certainly could consider the young kid going to the outfield and learning his craft out there. 

"A lot of them do — there are a lot of young players who come up and change positions in a hurry if they’re blocked [by] an established veteran.”

Plouffe, who hit .258/.328/.423 with 12 home runs and a career-high 80 RBI this season, is under team control until 2018. Sano, on the other hand, is just 21 years old and Ryan believes could use more seasoning in the minors before making the jump. 

“He’s not going to be ready to make this team out of spring training. He’s going to have to re-establish himself,” Ryan said. “We’ll give him a good look in spring training, but to put that out there, that he’s got a chance to make this club out of spring, I think that would be the wrong approach. He’s barely got any at-bats at Double-A.”

There's plenty of reason for optimism surrounding Sano, MLB.com's seventh-ranked major-league prospect and part of the two-headed monster in the Twins' system along with Byron Buxton. In 123 games split between Single-A and Double-A in 2013, the Dominican hit .280/.382/.610 with 35 home runs and 103 RBI.