A year ago, Twins third baseman Miguel Sano learned in late January he was headed to first base. He worked there in spring (actually summer) training and a regular season shortened by a global pandemic.
This year he has that experience behind him — as well as a winter of watching videos of how Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Albert Pujols played the position.
"Sometimes you can learn by just watching someone else," Sano said on a video teleconference from spring training's second day in Fort Myers, Fla. "In this case, I did it by video. But if you get to do it in person, that helps, too.
"I watched those three, how they play first base, how they go about their business. Before last year, I had no experience at first base. I try to learn a little bit of something about those guys. Watching video helped me."
He learned first base at age 26 to make room for highly paid Josh Donaldson at third. Twins management and coaches had Sano concentrate on first base until late in the season. That's when they asked him to get some work at third just in case, when recurring calf injuries ended Donaldson's season early.
"First base is a good position," Sano said. "I prefer to play third, but it's a good opportunity that I can play first and I love to play there."
In addition to watching Mauer, Morneau and Pujols, Sano also worked at home in the Dominican Republic with his personal coach Fernando Tatis Sr., who played 11 major league seasons. Tatis' son, Fernando Jr., just signed a record 14-year, $340 million contract with San Diego.
"He was the first person who told me actually how to play first base," Sano said of the elder Tatis. "The little ins and outs, how to move around the base. He taught me how to defend specific hitters, depending on who was in the box. How they run, lefty, righty, things like that."
