Angels Manager Preaches Patience With Struggling Slugger

The veteran is 2 for 23 with 11 strikeouts to start spring training.

The Angels aren't afraid to cut a veteran non-roster invitee from their spring training roster. Exhibit A: catcher Francisco Mejia.

The Angels signed Mejia to a minor league contract on Feb. 9, cut him on Feb. 24, and by March 4 he was in camp with another team, the Tampa Bay Rays.

Another veteran non-roster invitee is struggling mightily. Infielder Miguel Sanó is 2 for 23 (.087) with 11 strikeouts in his first exposure to Cactus League pitching. However, it doesn't sound as if the Angels are in any hurry to cut him loose.

Speaking with reporters Thursday about Sanó's slow start, manager Ron Washington preached patience. 

“Remember, he came up here right off a plane and he was in a game. So (the at-bats) are getting better. They’re getting better, and that’s all you want. … It’s not where he would like it, so if he doesn’t like where it’s at, I certainly don’t either."

— Angels manager Ron Washington, 

via Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register

A relatively late addition to the Angels' list of camp invitees, Sanó's arrival was delayed by visa issues. He showed up nearly 60 pounds lighter than his previous playing weight, and began playing the day he arrived in Arizona.

The former top prospect didn't play in 2023 because of a left knee injury. In 2022, he had only 5 hits in 60 regular season at-bats with the Twins, a season lost almost entirely to the same left knee issue.

Sanó made the American League All-Star team in 2017 with Minnesota, when he slashed .264/.352/.507 in 114 games. In 2019, he hit a career-high 34 home runs in only 105 games. Two years later, he played a career-high 135 games and hit 30 home runs for the Twins.

The Angels could use that kind of power in the middle of a lineup missing the reigning American League Most Valuable Player, Shohei Ohtani. Understandably, they're willing to wait to see if Sanó's bat comes around.

Sanó's first hit of spring training was a home run on March 1 against the San Diego Padres.