With all of the excitement about the Twins future stars in the minor league, the New Britain Rock Cats blog by Andrew Walter -- Twins Fan from Afar -- should be considered for regular reading.
Walter was on hand Wednesday night as the newest Rock Cats, third baseman Miguel Sano and second baseman Eddie Rosario, just promoted from Class A Fort Myers, made their debuts for The Class AA Rock Cats, who were swept by the Altoona Curve.
Sano went 0-for-1 with a walk and sacrifice fly in the opener. (He was thrown out trying to steal.) In the second game, he went hitless with another sacrifice fly. Rosario went 2-for-4 with two walks in the pair of seven-inning games.
About the first game, Walter writes: "My biggest takeaway from the first game: Sano's defense looked good. The arm got the job done. Sano had to come in on a bunt early on and made a nice play, and he snagged a hard grounder right after (he actually took a few steps back to third base in a decent attempt to catch the runner on third, who had just broken home). At no point was there any awkward footwork or anything that would suggest that Sano was uncomfortable at that position. To be sure, he wasn't tested with a diving play, and didn't have to barehand a ball in this first game, but he looked good. Solid.
"At bat, he was decent. He wasn't challenged in his first plate appearance, which ended in a 5-pitch walk. He was, however, thrown out stealing second. Don't forget -- Sano does have some speed (he stole 9 bases with Ft. Myers this spring). In his second at-bat he grounded rather routinely to third base. His final at-bat was probably the best. He was just under a fly ball, which went for a sac fly. He didn't "connect" with the pitch, yet it ended up just shy of the warning track."
The blog post also includes a link to series of "awful videos" -- Walter's description, not mine. We're just happy to see anything -- of Sano and Rosario.
You can read the complete Twins Fan from Afar post here.
And here's a link to box scores from their debuts.
