There was great excitement Wednesday in Chattanooga and the reason was simple: Miguel Sano was being promoted from the Lookouts to the Twins.
First baseman Mike Gonzalez told the Chattanooga web site newsfreepress.com: "We all went crazy for him and gave him a hug, It's what we're here for, and it's great to see something like that happen to a great player like that."
Meanwhile, Sano talked about the challenges he knows are coming with the promotion.
"I've worked on everything," said Sano, who missed the entire 2014 season after Tommy John surgery on an injured elbow. "I tried to hit the ball to right field, to the middle and to left field. I tried to hit the breaking ball. I've had a lot of people helping me."
Former Twins first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, who manages the Class AA Lookouts, talked about the difference between Sano and Byron Buxton, who was promoted from the team and played 11 games before spraining his thumb: "I think Miguel is a different case than Byron, because if you had taken away Miguel's elbow injury, he would have already been (in the majors) Two years ago, if there was a better hitter in the minor leagues — I would have put him up against anybody. It took him some time, but you saw the last two weeks what he did two years ago, and that's what they were waiting on. He's using the whole field right now and driving the ball all over the place."
Sano hit .324 for the Lookouts in June with six home runs and 17 RBI, including 11 hits in his last 23 at-bats.
"It doesn't feel like it's real," Sano told reporter David Paschall. "I've called like a thousand people in my family."
