Twins call up Jose Miranda, who had spectacular minor league season in 2021

BALTIMORE — Jose Miranda knew something was up as soon as he saw what name had popped up on his caller ID.

Toby Gardenhire, the Saints manager, never calls his star infielder. Especially since Miranda had just been at CHS Field before the rain canceled Sunday's game. Yet at 4:30 p.m., Miranda's phone lit up as he was on his way back to his apartment.

"When I saw the number I said, 'This is weird,' " Miranda said. "When he was like, 'What are you doing?' It was kind of suspicious."

Miranda replied he was heading home, and then his manager said, "Can I ask you a question? Do you want to go to the big leagues?"

"Yeah, of course," was the 23-year-old's response.

Miranda packed up and was on an 8 p.m. flight to Baltimore that night. Less than 24 hours later, he made his MLB debut starting at third base and batting sixth for the Twins at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

The Puerto Rico native had a shot at making the Twins' Opening Day roster after a stunning 2021 minor league season. He ascended from Class AA Wichita to Class AAA St. Paul last season, ending the year with a .344 batting average, 30 home runs, 94 RBI and 32 doubles.

In 21 games with the Saints in 2022, he is batting .256 with two home runs.

"He's a good player. He's proven that for a little while now. Obviously the fantastic year last year was impossible to miss," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.

Miranda said he knew after spring camp he would be one of the first callups, so he has been mentally prepared for a while. But there's still a lot of excitement and anxiety about fulfilling a childhood dream. Miranda's mom, stepdad, fiancée and 2-year-old daughter were all in attendance, while his dad and grandma watched from home. His famous cousin — Lin-Manuel Miranda of "Hamilton" — is hoping to come to a game in Minnesota sometime soon.

"I'm super excited," Miranda said. "I just want to play hard and do my best out there and just contribute to the team and keep playing the same way they are now. They're winning games."

Miranda's callup came about because of first baseman Miguel Sano's trip to the Injured List. Sano hurt his knee a week ago while celebrating a walkoff victory against Detroit. He sat out three games before coming back Saturday at Tampa Bay. But he left that game early because of continued pain in that left knee.

"When I came out of the game on Saturday, it felt worse, and then that's why I got the crutches," Sano said in Spanish through an interpreter. "And then I used the crutches [Sunday] because I couldn't walk on my own."

Sano described the sensation in his knee as weakness. Baldelli wasn't ready to name the exact problem but did say this IL stint could be longer than 10 days but not so long as to end Sano's season.

"We're spending some time looking at whether a procedure is warranted. I think we're getting pretty close to making a final decision on that," Baldelli said. "It doesn't feel like it's going to be something even if he does have that procedure that would keep him out an exceptional amount of time … we'll know more in the next couple of days."

The Twins also placed Kyle Garlick on the IL because of a right calf strain. He had two homers in Saturday's victory over the Rays and reached base in his first two trips to the plate Sunday before he left the game with his injury.

Garlick said he had felt a bit of tightness for about two days before his early exit but had been treating it on his own and playing through it. But when running the bases Sunday, he took a couple hard steps back to first base and felt a tug and cramp in his calf. He's hopeful this will just be a 10-day pause before he's back to the field.

The 30-year-old dealt with an oblique injury in 2020 and had sports hernia surgery halfway through last year to end his season.

"It's very frustrating," Garlick said. "I do all this prep work every day to make sure that my body's good to go for the game, and the last couple of years, I just felt like my body's kind of just let me down a little bit."