It seems that the 2015 season has seen a resurgence of offense, lead mostly by a collection of under 25 year old talent unlike any the game has seen in recent years. Talent– like the Chicago Cubs’ catcher-turned-left fielder Kyle Schwarber– is making real impact on the playoff race heading into September, and turning heads across the sports world. But there’s another rookie, Minnesota’s Miguel Sano, who is driving a much smaller market to surprise contention while clobbering the ball all over out of the park. This isn’t crazy news to anyone who’s really been paying attention, but you would have really needed to pay attention to realize that Sano has been better than Schwarder, and that the Twins are just one game from a Wild Card birth.
Consider the following two tweets.
Kyle Schwarber's 2-run HR in the 7th helps lift @Cubs past Reds, 5-4. Schwarber goes 2-3 with 2 RBI. pic.twitter.com/ss1uCQowpH
— Baseball Tonight (@BBTN) September 2, 2015
Sano.
— David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield) September 2, 2015
Both rookies have been great, but the above two tweets underscore just how our national media fail us on occasion. Though we could, we’re not going to get into political nonsense here; rather, we’ll attempt to spread the good news that is Miguel Sano’s MLB career to this point. It may be that I’m too excited about a small sample size of 200 PA… but I guess I have a tendency to do that around here.
Dropping the minimum PA requirement to 180, lends us these MLB rankings for Sano and Schwarber. Note that Sano has 211 PAs and Schwarber sits at 189.
| Sano | Schwarber | |
| wOBA | 4 | 11 |
| wRC+ | 4 | 11 |
| HR/PA | 5 | 3 |
| OBP | 7 | 32 |
So each has been one of the very best hitters in baseball since their respective MLB summons. But Sano has been better. (He might rank even higher on these lists if his 409 foot double were hit anywhere other than Tropicana Field.) Each has a real shot at winning rookie of the year, but taking home that hardware may depend on their teams’ success through September.
Sano is no stranger to the attention, having his story chronicled in the 2011 documentary Ballplayer: Pelotero, a fascinating glimpse into the world of 16-year old MLB hopefuls growing up in the Dominican Republic. It’s a world full of shady operators attempting to capitalize on poor, young talent. The movie shows just how important signing bonuses are to the 16-year olds, their families, and their communities. Sano eventually signed for $3.15 Million, at the time the largest signing bonus ever given to a Latin American amateur, but it wasn’t without controversy and angst. The movie’s first scene shows a 16 year old Sano’s smooth swing crush a baseball to left field. Even then, people knew that this kid could be special.
It’s well documented that success in the minor leagues is wholly different from success in the Major Leagues. To this point, Sano is making it look easy. Albeit hidden in Minnesota, he’s demonstrating that sometimes 16 year olds live up to the hype. Even if he isn’t getting the attention he deserves– or if the Twins fail to reach the playoffs– Sano’s sweet swing will be around for another decade at least. Twins fans can be excited for that.
-Sean Morash
