Minnesota Twins Miguel Sano may need offseason surgery
Many were surprised to see the Minnesota Twins leave slugger Miguel Sano off the Wild Card roster, but he may have more issues ahead this offseason
The Minnesota Twins have moved into offseason mode after a heartbreaking loss to the New York Yankees in the Wild Card game. Now the first tough news of the offseason may have just leaked out:
Don't be surprised to hear that #MNTwins 3B Miguel Sano will need some sort of surgery. He's in a lot more pain than many of us realized.
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) October 5, 2017
Sano’s injury
The Minnesota Twins placed Sano on the disabled list on August 20th, and he did not return until September 29th. He had faced Zack Greinke in a big 4-run 4th inning on August 19th, and when he took a mammoth swing on a Greinke offering and fouled it off into the seats, he showed very obvious discomfort and did not put much weight on his front leg at all. He finished the at bat by grounding into a double play, and he struggled to get halfway up the first base line. Mitch Garver replaced him for his next at bat.
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It’s come out since that Sano’s shin was badly battered by foul balls over the course of the season, which makes the fact that Sano played 82 of his 114 games at third base this season all the more impressive. The night before the swing mentioned above against Greinke, Sano had a monster night, going 3-4 with a pair of home runs and driving in 3 runs. However, he also fouled a ball off of his shin, and it’s likely that was the final straw that the swing against Greinke aggravated to the point beyond his ability to play through the pain anymore.
That repeated trauma to his shin has likely created an issue where he has multiple small fractures that need to be repaired, based on previous similar injuries. That is based on pure speculation, not anything that has come out yet, but based on other players who have been through similar issues, Sano could be looking at a stabilization surgery in his lower leg.
Next: Why Sitting Sano Best For Twins
Let’s hope Sano can get to the operating table early in the offseason if that is needed so he can get to rehab as soon as possible as well. That way he can be ready to provide the Twins with more mammoth shots like the one above next season!