Minnesota Twins: Miguel Sano to DL as club fights for playoff spot
The Minnesota Twins will have to keep pushing for a playoff spot with their biggest power threat on the sidelines for the time being.
In 2017, the Minnesota Twins have been a rather surprising team. The Twins, who went 59-103 and finished in last place in the AL Central last season, currently find themselves tied with the Los Angeles Angels for the second AL Wild Card spot.
The Twins’ offense has been buoyed by players such as Eddie Rosario, Brian Dozier and Miguel Sano. The 24-year-old Sano, who is now in his third MLB season, has hit .267/.356/.514 (129 OPS+) with 28 home runs and 77 RBI this year.
Sano’s power, of course, also comes with quite a few strikeouts. He has struck out a major league-leading 170 times this season, and his 35.8 percent strikeout rate is currently the fourth-highest mark in the game. When a player has 40-plus home run power, though, the strikeouts are usually tolerable.
The Twins were recently dealt a considerably large blow, however. According to Chad Graff of the Twin Cities Pioneer Press, Sano has now been placed on the 10-day DL due to an injury to his left shin. He first suffered the injury when he fouled a ball off that area in Friday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, a game in which he also homered twice.
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Can the Twins stay in the race?
Graff also reported that “a person with direct knowledge” claims that Kennys Vargas is likely to take the place of Sano. In 51 games with the Twins this season, Vargas was hitting .243/.289/.429 (89 OPS+) with eight home runs and 30 RBI. He has hit .253/.360/.461 with nine home runs and 28 RBI in 51 games in Triple-A Rochester this year.
Vargas has not evolved into the formidable offensive threat that some thought he would be, but he has shown an ability to hit the occasional long ball. He hit a career-high 10 home runs through 47 games with the Twins last season.
Obviously, a team cannot replace a bat like Sano’s, but the Twins still have several good offensive pieces. In addition to Dozier and Rosario, Max Kepler has quietly been having a nice season, Byron Buxton has been swinging a much better bat as of late and veteran Joe Mauer is still an above average hitter with a 108 OPS+.
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In addition to losing a huge bat in their lineup, it would be fair to say the Twins haven’t pitched especially well this season, which could also hurt their chances of staying in the race. Ervin Santana is having a nice year at the top of the rotation, but the Twins currently rank 24th in MLB with a 4.74 team ERA. They also traded their closer, Brandon Kintzler, to the Washington Nationals prior to the non-waiver trade deadline.
In Sano’s absence, it should be very interesting to see how well the Twins are able to hold down the fort for the next 10 games or so.