Miguel Sano: From the Dominican Republic to baseball's major leagues

Miguel Sano, who played for the Fort Myers Miracle in 2013 and then missed 2014 with an elbow injury, is bound for the big leagues.

The Minnesota Twins are summoning perhaps the best power-hitting prospect in professional baseball from the Class Double-A level.

Sano, 22, has been one of the most scrutinized prospects ever to emerge from the Dominican Republic.

Here's a story The News-Press first published April 4, 2013 as well as a feature from when he first set foot on United States soil at the Lee County Sports Complex in July of 2010:

Miracle's Sano passing every test

From the lab to diamond, Twins prospect proving he belongs in pros.

By David Dorsey

Profiled as one of the best teenage baseball prospects to come out of the Dominican Republic, Miguel Sano also arrived in Fort Myers as one of the most scrutinized.

Sano, the new starting third baseman for the Fort Myers Miracle, turns 20 on May 11. That birthdate and the identities of his biological parents were investigated by Major League Baseball in 2009, when he was 15-16 and unable to sign a professional contract.

"It was very difficult," Sano said of his career being in limbo. "They wouldn't tell me anything about the investigation. I was in the dark."

While most Dominican prospects sign July 2 in any given year, the process with Sano dragged on for more than three months during an identity investigation that included DNA and bone density testing.

Sano passed all of the tests. At age 16, he ended up receiving a $3.15 million signing bonus, the most the Minnesota Twins have ever awarded a Latin player, said Bill Smith, the team's general manager at the time of Sano's signing Oct. 9, 2009.

"This kid was so highly coveted, that rather than have all 30 teams do the testing, Major League Baseball stepped in and did the testing," Smith said. "The DNA testing proved that the man claiming to be his father was in fact his father and that the woman claiming to be his mother was his mother."

Smith explained how and why some Dominican prospects will buy the "cedula," the Dominican version of a social security number, from non-prospects who are two or three years younger. These documents in some cases are bought for thousands of dollars in order to make hundreds of thousands or, in Sano's case, millions of dollars.

International players are signed as free agents and not subject to the draft in June. Dominican players can begin signing at age 16. Prospects who are 18 and older will receive much less of a signing bonus than a 16-year-old, which prompts some prospects and their handlers to engage in identity fraud.

The process of Dominican prospects being identified begins as early as age 9 but usually happens between ages 11 and 12, when the best of the bunch move from sandlots to baseball academies, where they are provided food and training in exchange for a cut of future earnings.

The process expands when the children reach age 15, Smith said. At that time, various men known as "buscones" – Spanish for "one who searches" – will latch on to the prospects as agents, hoping to reap an additional percentage of the prospect's future signing bonus, sometimes as much as 40 percent.

The process, detailed in the book "The Eastern Stars," by Mark Kurlansky and the documentary "Pelotero," co-directed and produced by Jon Paley, sometimes includes multiple "buscones" clamoring for a piece of the prospect's financial pie.

In most cases, the agents and academy coaches are helping these prospects more so than harming them, said Paley, whose documentary largely focuses on Sano.

"Most of them are not bad guys," Paley said. "They're doing their jobs. I think people are under the conception that there are hordes of people trying to take advantage of these kids. That's not always the reality. Most of these guys are honest, hard-working baseball trainers. If they were in the United States, they would be high school baseball coaches."

All the fuss over Sano's identity likely would not have intensified were it not for his prodigious abilities, said Fred Guerrero, the Twins scout who signed Sano.

"We never quit and never lost our desire to sign him," Guerrero said. "We saw him play as much as possible, and when the investigations were finished, we were in good position to sign him. It was a very competitive process, and we are thrilled that Miguel signed with us."

Sano said he held no bitterness over the investigation that may have cost him an additional $2 million in signing bonus money. He is learning English, and he spoke using pitching coach Ivan Arteaga as a translator in one conversation and teammate Corey Williams in another.

"I received a great amount of money," Sano said. "I'm very happy. I just wanted to prove to people that I was who I said I was.

"It was frustrating, the process of so many teams trying to get me to sign but at the same time doubting my age. When I was being scouted, I never thought I was going to play for the Twins. But I'm glad that I am."

The 6-foot-4, 236-pound third baseman will spend the final weeks of being a teenager refining his skills as a power hitter in the Florida State League. Sano also will be working to improve as a fielder at a relatively new position for him. The Twins signed Sano as a shortstop.

Sano hit for a .258 batting average last season with 28 home runs, 100 RBI and eight stolen bases for the Beloit (Wis.) Snappers in the Midwest League, a rung below the Miracle on the minor league ladder. Baseball America magazine ranked Sano the No. 9 prospect.

"He's got all the tools in the world," said new Miracle manager Doug Mientkiewicz, who played in the big leagues for seven teams after starting for the Miracle at first base in 1995-96. "I don't remember anybody having his type of ability when I was here. He moves pretty well for a big guy. You've got to remember he's still only 19 years old.

The jump in competition will be a challenge for Sano, said Brad Steil, the Twins director of minor leagues.

"The problem for him is pitchers won't want to challenge him," Steil said. "They're going to throw him a lot of breaking balls into the dirt. He just has to be patient. You can't start chasing pitches out of the strike zone. It's all part of the learning process."

Paul Molitor, a Hall of Fame third baseman and a Twins instructor, worked with Sano extensively this spring .

"He loves to play shortstop," Molitor said. "So this was something different for him. Just the angles and the positioning, he needs to work on some of that. He's a big dude, but he's agile enough. He's going to show improvement. He needs to work on his angles and how to control the bunting game. He's sometimes not sure of when to play up and when to play back.

"If he's going to have a tough day at the plate, is he going to play defense, too? He's got a lot of people telling him how good he is. That's all fine and good, but you have to continually improve. He can't take a day off."

And, from July 26, 2010:

Twins' future gets feet wet

Prospect Sano learns quickly in GCL

By David Dorsey

Miguel Sano opened the book, "Baby's First Colors."

The 17-year-old Minnesota Twins infield prospect, who became an instant millionaire last year in receiving a $3.15 million signing bonus, had missed his team's van to the hotel along with two of his Gulf Coast League teammates.

Sano's sole luxury so far, a $60,000 Toyota Prado, did him no good on this recent Tuesday afternoon. The sport utility vehicle sat somewhere in his native San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic, almost 1,000 miles from the Lee County Sports Complex.

Sano, who caught a ride back to his hotel with fellow San Pedro native Jorge Polanco, 17, and bilingual Aruba native Kelvin Silvania, 19, opened the baby book, which was in the back seat.

"Orange!" Sano pronounced with pride as he turned to the first page.

Green would have been a more apt color for Sano. Green as in money. His bonus ranks among the highest ever awarded to a Latin American prospect and is the highest ever awarded by the Twins.

And green as in the word's other connotations: youthful, vigorous, lacking training or experience, lacking sophistication or worldly experience.

Sano spends most of his free time roaming the Edison Mall, where Silvania, an older brother-type figure, advises him not to spend his allowance on shoes and clothes he doesn't need.

Sano also takes English classes three nights a week.

While talking inside the Twins' minor league conference room, Silvania, Sano's roommate, served as a translator. Sano at times resembled a "tortuga." That's Spanish for turtle.

The young man seemed to go into a shell.

"I'm nervous," Sano said.

Minnesota Twins general manager Bill Smith said to look at it this way: "Go across the street to South Fort Myers High School. Now, take a 16-year-old from there, and take him down to the Dominican Republic, and have someone from a newspaper down there start asking him questions.

"This is all part of the process that this young man is going to have to go through. He's shy, and you're asking him questions he can't understand. That's one of the challenges that we have in bringing a lot of young players over."

Sano comes from a city where two industries dominate: farming sugar cane and developing professional baseball talent.

A new book, "The Eastern Stars," by Mark Kurlansky, profiles San Pedro de Macoris and notes that one-sixth of Dominicans that have reached the majors grew up in Sano's hometown.

Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano, Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano and Baltimore Orioles outfielder Felix Pie are among the current ones. Pie inspired Sano the most.

"I wanted to be on the Baltimore Orioles because I'm a big Felix Pie fan," Sano said. "He's my favorite player."

Sano looked forward to his 15th birthday, the age when big-league teams can begin financial negotiations with prospects.

"My goal is to be in the big leagues in three years," said Sano, which would put him on the rare fast track taken by 20-year-old Atlanta Braves rookie outfielder Jason Heyward.

Sano said his goal isn't just to reach the big leagues. He wants to become one of the game's biggest stars, along the lines of St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, another native Dominican.

Sano's timetable may be somewhat far-fetched. Even the best GCL players take four to five years to reach the majors.

But Twins scout Fred Guerrero, who signed Sano, and Sano's coaches, GCL manager Ramon Borrego and hitting coach Tom Brunansky, would not be surprised by such a swift ascension.

Through the end of last week, Sano was hitting .288 (15-of-52) with two home runs, eight RBI and one stolen base in 13 games. He put up numbers earlier this year in the Dominican League as well, hitting .344 (22-for-64) with three home runs, 10 RBI and two stolen bases in 20 games.

Sano, who was raised as a shortstop, needs to cut down on his strikeouts. He has struck out 36 times in 116 at-bats this year.

But he swings his bat with power.

"As soon as I saw him, he opened my eyes," Guerrero said of meeting Sano, then 14. "If you start projecting him, you're almost going to start believing in what he can be."

"Sano has a special ability," Borrego said. "I think he's going to be a corner guy (first or third base) because of his size. He's going to get bigger. He's going to get more power."

Sano is already 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds.

Said Brunansky: "He has so much upside. I don't even think he knows how good he is."

Toward the end of the interview, Sano began to resemble the laughing, smiling, talkative teenager known to his teammates.

"He said he just wants to do well, for everybody in Fort Myers," Silvania said, pointing to Hammond Stadium, where Sano someday could play for the Class A Fort Myers Miracle.

"He wants to win over the fans there. If they want, they can come and watch him here, too."