Miguel Sano is back, and this time as a third baseman.
The Twins called Sano up from Class AAA Rochester as he completed a minor league rehabilitation assignment for a strained left hamstring. Sano was not tearing up the American Association, as he was batting just .160 when called up, but manager Paul Molitor said the quality of his at-bats improved to the point where the club felt he was ready to return to the lineup.
As for third base, it looks like Sano will split time between there and DH for the time being. When asked if Sano will continue to work in the outfield before games, Molitor said it won't happen on a daily basis. And it sounded like Sano will only play in the outfield if the Twins are low on options.
So the outfield experiment has been a failure.
Byung Ho Park left for Rochester on Friday, where he will go and try regain the stroke that made him a feared hitter in South Korea. As much as Molitor was glad to have Sano back he was sad to send Park down. Park got off to a decent start, blended in with the team well and was adjusting to a different culture. Now he has to adapt to another culture, the minor league culture, as he tries to turn things around.
The entire team was on the field for early work today. They even had pitchers fielding practice, as Molitor has seen too many mistakes happen on the field.
Oh, I forgot to mention that the Texas Rangers - the first-place Rangers with a AL-high 51 wins - are in town tonight for the first of three games.
Rangers
Shin-Soo Choo, RF
Ian Desmond, CF
Nomar Mazara, LF
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Prince Fielder, DH
Rougned Odor, 2B
Elvis Andrus, SS
Mitch Moreland, 1B
Bobby Wilson, C
Martin Perez, RHP
Twins
Eduardo Nunez, SS
Joe Mauer, 1B
Miguel Sano, 3B
Brian Dozier, 2B
Trevor Plouffe, DH
Robbie Grossman, LF
Max Kepler, RF
Kurt Suzuki, C
Byron Buxton, CF
Ervin Santana, RHP
