Twins prospect Miguel Sano hit a home run, was ejected before crossing the plate

Twins prospect hit HR, was ejected rounding the bases

By Mike Bertha

December 16, 2014

Miguel Sano has yet to play a single game at Target Field, but that doesn't mean we don't have our hopes up that he'll make the Twins' roster in 2015. The Dominican native and power-hitting infield prospect was invited to Spring Training last year, but missed the entire season after tearing his ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

But, Sano's absence hasn't stopped his legend from growing.

Recently, one of Sano's former teammates -- infielder/outfielder/blogger AJ Pettersen -- took to TwinsDaily.com to share a tale with readers about the time that Sano hit a home run and was ejected while rounding the bases. The anecdote starts a week prior to the ejection when Sano, Pettersen and the Doug Mientkiewicz-managed Fort Myers Miracle were playing the Palm Beach Cardinals in Class A ball:

We were down a couple of runs late in the game when Sano came up with the bases loaded. With a penchant for dramatic situations, he promptly launched a grand slam deep into the Florida night off of this lanky, slinging righty. He probably stood at home plate a little too long and neither the pitcher, nor the opposing pitching coach, liked that very much. They exchanged words as he crossed home and later as he trotted out to the field the next inning. Things settled and the event ended without anything further. We all had thought it was over.

Five days later, the clubs faced off again and some of those involved hadn't quite gotten over the original incident.

We had a big lead early in the game and the lanky, slinging righty came out of the pen for some mop-up innings. Sano was the first batter he faced. All of us had forgotten what had happened a couple of weeks prior, except the pitcher, pitching coach… and of course, Sano.

The pitcher proceeded to throw the first pitch right at his head, missing only slightly. Throwing at one of our top prospects wasn't OK, so some choice words were exchanged between dugouts and the field. Sano stepped out calmly, stared down the pitching coach and the pitcher and stepped back in. When the count got to 3-1, the lanky righty threw a meatball and Sano angrily launched a towering blast to left center ...

Sano added some commentary as he left the batter's box, prompting his ejection. Couple that with Sano's David Ortiz-style meander around the bases on a homer hit in July of that year and it's easy to see why we all have our hopes up for Sano to crack into the bigs next summer.