Twins bench struggling Vargas

Kennys Vargas was on the Twins' bench for a second day in a row Monday. A thousand miles away, in Knoxville, Tenn., Miguel Sano was benched for a second day, too.

These are lean times for the Twins' top two slugging prospects.

"They're facing some adversity," said Rob Antony, assistant general manager. "It's how they handle it that will make them better players."

Vargas, 25, is batting .161 this season with one home run, but he's 2-for-28 (.071) over the past 10 days and on Saturday struck out four times. Sano, playing for the Twins' Class AA affiliate Chattanooga, is at .173 with three homers, but he's 3-for-25 (.120) over his past seven games. And they have something else in common, too, Antony said.

"I think Sano is trying to hit it 500 feet every time. Vargas has done some of that up here," Antony said. "When they've had success, they've hit for power. That's kind of who they are and what they want to do."

Changes need to be made, though. In Sano's case, the Twins are working on some mechanical issues at the plate, and "rather than putting him into a game and have him slip right back into what he was doing, they're giving him a little break," Antony said.

Twins manager Paul Molitor hinted that he's unhappy with Vargas' pregame approach. "You [should] try to take batting practice that is more game-realistic. Don't become too concerned with how far you hit them when a guy is throwing 60 mph," the manager said. "It's about trying to keep it crisp, use your barrel, keep it short, see the ball first."

He's hopeful that a couple of days off will help. "Sometimes a day isn't enough to get a guy to clear his head," Molitor said.

Trevor May played catch on Monday and reported his elbow, struck by a line drive on Saturday, feels fine. He'll throw in the bullpen as usual on Tuesday, and is on track to make his next start Thursday against the White Sox.

Ricky Nolasco appears healthy again, too. And therein lies a decision that the Twins want to wait a couple more days to make.

"Ricky came through his [rehab] start yesterday very well. I think the biggest concern was how he was going to hold up to throwing breaking balls, and that wasn't an issue," Molitor said of Nolasco's five-inning stint at Class A Cedar Rapids. "We haven't decided exactly what's going to [happen] next."

The Twins could insert Nolasco, out since experiencing elbow inflammation on April 8, back in the rotation sometime later in the week and make room by sending May back to Rochester or demoting someone else to the bullpen. They could send Nolasco on another rehab start, since he threw only 66 pitches and they'd like to get him closer to 90. Or they could even buy time by using six starters for one turn through the rotation.

• Wednesday's noon game with the Tigers, which will not be broadcast by Fox Sports North, has been picked up by MLB Network and will be available in the Twin Cities, the team said.