Minnesota Twins promote prospect Miguel Sano

Multiple sources are reporting this evening that the Minnesota Twins will promote third base prospect Miguel Sano to the major league roster on Thursday.

One of the top power-hitting prospects in baseball, Sano was signed by the Twins out of the Dominican Republic back in 2009 for $3,150,000. Sano showed outstanding power in the lower minors, hitting 28 homers with a .258/.373/.521 line in the Low-A Midwest League in 2012 at age 19, then followed up with 35 more homers between High-A and Double-A in 2013.

His march to the majors was interrupted by Tommy John surgery which cost him all of 2014. Returning to Double-A this spring, he had some rust to work off and hit just .159/.303/.381 in April for Chattanooga. However, he's been extremely hot for the last two months, hitting .303/.374/.556 in May and .329/.432/.658 in June. His overall line this spring stands at .274/.374/.544 with 15 home runs, 38 walks, and 68 strikeouts in 241 at-bats over 66 games in the Southern League.

As you'd expect from the numbers, Sano generates outstanding power from a 6-4, 260 pound frame. Born May 11, 1993, the right-handed hitter strikes out frequently and likely always will, but he is not adverse to working counts and has drawn his share of walks, helping to keep the OBPs reasonable even when his batting averages are low. When Sano is right he shows good hitting instincts to go with his brute power and he's been very right the last eight weeks.

As you can see from his MLBfarm.com spray chart, he'll certainly pull the ball at times but his power manifests to all fields.

Miguel Sano spray chart, from MLBFarm.com

Sano seems to have recovered his arm strength off Tommy John surgery. The arm is plenty strong for third base but he tends to make wild throws, leading to elevated error rates. He is surprisingly mobile at third base for such a big player but most observers view him as a first baseman/DH in the long run; with Trevor Plouffe manning third base that is true for the short run as well.

While promoting Sano to the majors without any intervening Triple-A experience carries some risk, there are few bats in the minors with as much potential power impact. His performance over the last two months has been outstanding and with the Twins in a pennant chase, his opportunity is now in Minnesota, not in Triple-A Rochester.