
DOWN: Miguel Sano
Sano nearly played himself off of this list with a game-winning home run against the Royals on Friday night and another solo home run to start the scoring on Saturday. However, both home runs were sandwiched by an obscene amount of strikeouts.
Last week, Sano had 17 strikeouts in 23 at-bats while batting .086 (2-for-23), but his two hits were the previously mentioned home runs. This has been an even bigger problem as of late as in his last 14 games dating back to June 4, Sano has slashed .173/.246/.423 with four of his nine hits leaving the park.
Sano exhibits tremendous power at the plate, but his recent approach has been horrendous. The 26-year old has been check swinging at anything near the plate and can’t seem to catch up with the pitches that are grooved down the plate. It’s possible that Sano is dealing with rust due to his delayed start to the season, but how much can the Twins tolerate?
The good news is that Sano is still hitting for power and perhaps with more regular playing time, the third baseman will snap out of his funk. For now, he needs to start making contact just to be a viable member of the lineup.