Buxton, Santana show off speed
SARASOTA, FLA. – Darin Mastroianni, one of the fastest players on the Twins last season, was asked where he would finish in a race between himself, Byron Buxton and Danny Santana.
"I'm not beating Buxton," he said. "Maybe the first two steps but not after that. Watching him is a lot of fun. Danny reminds a lot of Ben [Revere], a shorter guy but with long legs. The same kind of strides."
The Twins' jaws dropped a few times Monday as Santana and Buxton turned the basepaths into a velodrome during a 9-2 split-squad victory over the Orioles. The switch-hitting Santana tripled from both sides of the plate, while Buxton hit a ground-rule double to straightaway center that could have been a triple (or more) had it stayed in the park, then he turned into a blur as he beat out what appeared to be a routine double-play ball in the ninth.
"They can play," said outfielder Wilkin Ramirez, who hit a three-run homer. "You see it right there, speed on the bases."
Santana, who hit .297 with 30 stolen bases last year at Class AA New Britain, could be in the mix to fill in at shortstop if Pedro Florimon (appendicitis) isn't ready for Opening Day. Santana drove in one run with his first triple and two with his second. Both times, he said he was thinking triple as soon as he left the batter's box.
"This guy is pretty exciting," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He's got jets."
Buxton, rated baseball's top prospect, lined a pitch from Tim Alderson over the head of center fielder Quintin Berry, no slouch himself when it comes to speed. The ball bounced over the fence just as Buxton closed in on second base.
"It that ball bounces off the wall and Berry doesn't play it right, it's an inside-the-park home run," Mastroianni said.
