Twins prospect Miguel Sano hasn’t played the last two days after being benched as a result of his antics during this home run Tuesday in Double-A New Britain’s game against Portland.
Apparently, New Britain manager Jeff Smith had two problems with the homer. First, it was the pause Sano did a couple of steps away from home plate that was mostly missed by the video. The other issue was the slow jog around the bases. The homer is hit at the 34 second mark in Tbautos512’s video, and Sano doesn’t come around to touch home plate until the 1:03 mark. That 28-29 second trip is David Ortiz territory; while Ortiz averages 28 seconds around the bases on his home runs, according to Tater Trot Tracker, no one else in the majors tops 26 seconds.
The Twins haven’t announced when Sano will be back in the lineup, though it figures to happen this weekend. The Pioneer-Press’s Mike Berardino notes that another one of the Twins’ best prospects, Eddie Rosario, was benched for a similar offense earlier this season.
Sano, 20, is hitting .294/.390/.621 with 26 homers and 76 RBI in 327 at-bats between Single-A Fort Myers and New Britain this season. His homer Tuesday was his fourth in six games.