The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Ed Thoma

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October 25, 2009

Twins make investment in amateur talent

There are questions about any teenager signed to a professional baseball contract.

How well will his talent play? Does he have the emotional reserves to handle the stress of the long pro season? Does he have the mental acuity to grasp the ever-more demanding nuances of the game?

And, in the case of Miguel Angel Sano, the $3.15 million Dominican shortstop whose contract with the Twins became official last week, a couple more:

Is this 6-foot-3, 190-pounder really just 16 years old? And is he really Miguel Angel Sano, or an older man with a false ID?

Sano’s signing was held up for months while his very identity was investigated.

He wouldn’t be the first player to fake his age or even his name. (Tony Oliva’s actual first name is Pedro; he used his brother’s identity to get out of Cuba before Fidel Castro closed the gates.)

But even if it turns out that Sano is 18 or 19, he’s still seen as a legitimate prospect. Indeed, his is the second largest bonus ever handed out to a player not from the United States or Cuba.

That the Twins took such a plunge appears indicative of a new, more aggressive approach to amateur talent.

Sano isn’t their only high-risk, high-reward signee this summer.

n Max Kepler-Rozycki, also 16, may be the most unusual prospect in the game. He was signed this summer out of Germany for $800,000. The son of two stars in the Berlin ballet (his mother is an American), he shares their athletic gifts and disciplined passion — and don’t underestimate how much of both one needs to reach the top levels of European dance. (The Wall Street Journal this summer ran a story on him, headlined “Baryshnikov in Baseball Cleats”; there’s a link to that story in my blog).

n Kyle Gibson, a 22-year-old collegian, was seen as a likely top five pick in June, but fell to the Twins at 22 because of a stress fracture in his forearm. The Twins not only eagerly snapped him up, they broke “slot” to sign him ($1.86 million).

n Jorge Polanco, another Dominican shortstop, signed for $750,000.

These are all high-tool talents. They come with fat price tags, and that means risk — but when a team is consistently picking late in the draft, it has to take some risks to get top-shelf talent.

The Twins haven’t made much of a splash in the international market before this year. And their draft choices — especially since they started winning enough to be consistently in the bottom half of the first round — have generally been conservative picks, selected as much for signability as for ability.

This wave of pricey, risky signings may be evidence that the influx of revenue Target Field is expected to generate will be sunk into the talent pool without tossing the money at mediocre veterans.

Will it be more efficient? Well, the Twins spent between $12 million and $13 million on their draft picks and international signings. That’s a wave of player whose acquisitions cost about $2 million more than the Angels are paying Gary Matthews Jr. to sit on the bench.



Edward Thoma is a Free Press staff writer. He is at 344-6377 or at ethoma@mankatofreepress.com. He also has a baseball blog at www.mankatofreepress.com/ethomabaseball

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Ed Thoma