Miguel Sano was placed on the 60-day disabled list on Saturday, according to Dan Hayes of The Athletic. He had surgery in early May to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, which generally takes 4-to-8 weeks to recover from.
The 29-year-old will not be eligible to return until the beginning of July after being placed on the 60-day IL. Jose Miranda will take over as the Twins’ primary first baseman after Alex Kirilloff was optioned to Triple-A St. Paul on Saturday.
He made his MLB debut on July 2, 2015, and was an All-Star in 2017. Sanó has played for most of his career as a third baseman but played more first base in 2018 and 2019, and with the Twins signing of Josh Donaldson prior to the 2020 season, was the Twins’ primary first baseman.
Before the 2011 season, Baseball America rated Sanó the third-best prospect in the Twins’ minor league system. Sanó spent 2011 playing third base and shortstop for the Elizabethton Twins, the Twins affiliate in the Appalachian League, hitting .292 with 20 HR and 59 RBI.
After the 2011 season, Baseball America rated him the top prospect in the Appalachian League, the 18th-best prospect in all baseball, and (agreeing with Baseball Prospectus) the top Twins prospect.
In March 2019, Sanó underwent surgery on his Achilles. He returned to the line-up in May 2019. In 2019, he batted .247/.346/.576 with 34 home runs and 79 RBIs. He led the major leagues in the percentage of hard-hit balls, at 57.2%.
In 2020, Sanó hit .204/.278/.478 with 13 home runs and 25 RBIs during the shortened 60-game season, leading the majors with 90 strikeouts in 186 at-bats. In 2021, Sanó batted .223/.312/.466 with 30 home runs and 75 RBIs in 135 games. He struck out in 37.2% of his at-bats against right-handers, tops in the major leagues.