Twins' Miguel Sano serving as DH, batting 6th in MLB debut vs. Royals
After losing their top prospect to injury less than one week ago, the Minnesota Twins will turn to another highly touted youngster to bolster their 25-man roster.
The Twins have promoted third baseman Miguel Sano from Double-A Chattanooga on Thursday, roughly five days after placing center fielder Byron Buxton on the disabled list with a thumb sprain.
He will serve as the designated hitter and bat sixth in his MLB debut Thursday versus the Kansas City Royals.
Sano will take over the roster spot previously occupied by first baseman Kennys Vargas, who was optioned to Chattanooga after managing just a .608 OPS over his last 17 games with Minnesota, his second stint with the Twins in 2015.
Despite missing all of 2014 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, the 22-year-old has rebounded nicely this season. Lauded for his plus-plus power, Sano owns a .918 OPS with 15 home runs and 18 doubles through 66 games with Chattanooga in 2015 while posting his lowest strikeout rate (23.8 percent) since his inaugural professional season.
Sano, who was hailed by Baseball Prospectus in February as the game's 12th-best prospect, has demonstrated tremendous in-game power at every level of the minor leagues. In 2013, the Dominican native clobbered 16 homers with a 1.079 OPS in 56 games in the High-A Florida State League before earning a midseason promotion to Double-A. Sano then smashed another 19 home runs in 67 games in the Eastern League against players who were, on average, more than four years older than him.
It remains unclear, however, how the third baseman will be incorporated into the Twins' lineup. Trevor Plouffe has started all but seven games at third base thus far in 2015, while Joe Mauer has established himself as the club's everyday first baseman.
General manager Terry Ryan remarked during the offseason that Sano could play the outfield, if need be, despite not logging a single inning in the outfield throughout his minor-league career.
"Sano could go to the outfield if he had to," Ryan told season-ticket holders in October. "(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."