Comments on: Guest Post – Beloit Snappers Game Review http://knuckleballsblog.com/2012/06/18/guest-post-beloit-snappers-game-review/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=guest-post-beloit-snappers-game-review "Like butterflies with hiccups" Tue, 21 May 2013 14:15:57 +0000 hourly 1 By: Eric Pleiss http://knuckleballsblog.com/2012/06/18/guest-post-beloit-snappers-game-review/#comment-15213 Eric Pleiss Tue, 19 Jun 2012 21:13:40 +0000 http://knuckleballsblog.com/?p=12567#comment-15213 Interestingly enough, in small sample sizes in 2010 and 2011 Miguel Sano actually played better as a shortstop than he did as a third basemen.
I’m not enough of an expert to know what it means, but he has a strike out percentage north of 28%. Of course he also has a high walk rate, and great power, so he could be trending towards an Adam Dunn type of guy. Or he’s just working things out as any teenager might.
More concerning, in the past 30 days he’s hitting just .117, and striking out 38% of the time. However 9 of his 20 hits are for extra bases, including 4 HR (about 1 hr every 33 plate appearances).

]]> By: Jim Crikket http://knuckleballsblog.com/2012/06/18/guest-post-beloit-snappers-game-review/#comment-15211 Jim Crikket Tue, 19 Jun 2012 18:28:20 +0000 http://knuckleballsblog.com/?p=12567#comment-15211 Interesting observations. Assuming he isn’t promoted after the MWL All-Star game (which I think is relatively safe to assume), I’ll get another look at Sano later this week when the Snappers make their second trip to Cedar Rapids this season. He’s clearly a long way from being a serviceable 3B, but I’m probably not as concerned about that as you are. I didn’t notice a particularly large glove (the picture inserted in the story was one I took earlier this year, I believe), but even if it is larger than usual for the position, there are a couple of reasonable explanations for that. The guy is huge… and so are his hands… and that could make it a challenge to even get a smaller glove on. Also, they’re still working with him on being able to field a ball and if having an extra inch in glove length makes that process smoother for now, I’m ok with that.

I just think it’s premature to worry too much about whether he will or won’t eventually be able to play 3B. I see a lot of struggling defensive third basemen take the field in the Midwest League. Most of them are being converted from some other position (ever notice how few draftees are 3Bs out of school?) and are learning on the job. If it works out for Sano, great… if not, let’s be honest, he’s going to be paid to hit the ball a long way. If he can do that, long term, that’s the important thing.

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