The Minnesota Twins are hopeful to hear a ruling on Miguel Sano’s sexual assault allegations before the start of next month’s Spring Training. In the meantime, Sano will be sitting out the team’s most popular activity of January.

#TBT to Kirby & Mollie at #TwinsFest in 1996!https://t.co/mCmgEweuLG pic.twitter.com/YsCkYlVvHC

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) January 11, 2018

Like the Twins’ in the 2017 playoffs, my opinions on this topic will be one and done. However this ultimately plays out, due to the STILL DEVELOPING circumstances, keeping Sano out of TwinsFest is a no-brainer. Even if he wanted to take part, he couldn’t. With the MLB currently investigating the 24 year-old, he is forbidden from attending the annual event.

On December 28, 2017, Miguel Sano was accused of sexual assault by a Minneapolis area photographer. Via her Twitter account, Betsy Bissen described the details of an alleged sexual assault performed by the Twins 3B in 2015. Per the photographer, the event in question took place after an autograph signing.

In the aftermath of the reports, Bissen said that at the time, the Twins knew nothing about the incident.

Within hours of the claims being released, Miguel Sano and his camp denied all allegations. Per his statement “it never happened.” Also in that release, Sano said “I unequivocally deny the allegation made against me today.”

Fast forward to now, as mentioned, the MLB is investigating the matter. Despite the Twins’ optimism, whether or not we’ll hear a ruling by the start of Spring Training remains to be seen. In the interim, Sano is scheduled to be in Florida, rehabbing his injury.

Minnesota Sports Fan will be monitoring and updating this story as it continues to develop.

As for the players attending Twinsfest, and their autograph schedules, that information can be viewed here: Friday Schedule – Saturday Schedule – Sunday Schedule.

TwinsFest:

• Date: January 19th-21st
• Location: Target Field
• Tickets: $20 Adult, $12 Child (12 & under)

Finally, as the title indicates, these are updates from a previous written article. If you missed that piece the first time around, and wish to learn more about the allegations themselves, our original post is included below.

Johnny Minnesota @TheJohnnyMN
Minnesota Sports Fan MinnesotaSportsFan.com

Miguel Sano accused of sexual assault by photographer; denies allegations

?:@TheJohnnyMN https://t.co/RCn3I4rYJX

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) December 28, 2017

Early Thursday Afternoon, Miguel Sano of the Minnesota Twins, was accused of sexual assault. The accusation came from Betsy Bissen. The Minneapolis area photographer recounted the alleged 2015 incident on Twitter.

Professional photographer: Twins third baseman Miguel Sano ‘didn’t rape me, but he sure did assault me’ https://t.co/G68rDAEzsB

— FOX 9 (@FOX9) December 28, 2017

Before we dive any deeper into this ugly scenario, I’d like to make this statement:

Miguel Sano plays baseball for a living. This thing called life trumps America’s Pastime a million times over. If this assault claim is in fact the truth, Miguel Sano needs to be punished. But, we aren’t here to play jury on this matter. 

Here are the facts to the story, that we know so far:

Betsy Bissen shared her story as part of the #MeToo movement. (Her entire tweet/story can be seen later in this post)

She prefaces her accusations with details regarding her fear to come public: “I’ve been afraid to tell my story. Afraid that I wouldn’t get the access to shoot baseball that I got before.”

Bissen then talks about her job as a photographer. Her goal of obtaining candid shots of the athletes, meant she was basically amongst the team. The photographer discusses the 1B coach flirting with her at most games that she attended. Betsy Bissen claims she didn’t have a problem with this, until the married man asked for her phone number.

*Note – Butch Davis was MN’s first base coach in 2015.

Twins fired hitting coach Tom Brunansky and first base coach Butch Davis. All other coaches, including pitching coach Neil Allen, will stay.

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) November 9, 2016

She then begins to detail her interactions with Miguel Sano. Allegedly, things started out at an autograph session. Bissen describes Sano flirting with her throughout the signing. Her claim continues with the major-leaguer wanting to go to the Apple Store, once the signing had ceased.

Bissen didn’t want to join Sano, his agent, and her employer at the Apple Store. However, her accusation states that Miguel ‘grabbed her wrist and made her go with them’. She details her desire ‘not to cause a scene’, as her reasoning for obliging. Here is her direct quote:

“After the signing was over, he decided that he wanted to go to the Apple store before he left the mall. As him, his agent, and the guy I worked for walked away, he grabbed my wrist and made me go with them. (I didn’t want to cause a scene, so I just went along).”

Her story continues: After they spent approximately a half-hour in the store, there was a car parked, waiting for Miguel Sano and his agent. Upon entering outside, Sano decided he needed to use the restroom. After inquiring with her boss as to its location, she pointed back through the door in which they had just come from.

Here, again, are Bissen’s exact words:

“Apparently I was too close, and the athlete took that as a signal that I wanted him to grab me and try to take me back thru that door. I pulled back as he held onto my wrist. It hurt, how badly he was grasping at my wrist, but he wouldn’t let go. I wasn’t going to give up my fight though. He then leaned down and tried to kiss me, more than once. Every time he did, I said no and kept pulling back. I was in a squatted position with my wrist throbbing. I screamed, no one came to help me. He finally gave up after a solid ten mins of fighting to pull me thru that door.”

Bissen closes with details of how her body was sore the next day:

“The next day, my body was sore all over from having to fight off this athlete that thought he was entitled to take advantage of me against my will.”

She closes with details about difficulties for she’s felt since the situation and how everything she hears, that involves Sano, reminds her of that day. She later confirmed on Twitter, that the Twins Organization knew nothing of the alleged incident:

“Every time I have to hear about how great people think Miguel Sano is, I’m reminded of how awful he actually is and how he hurt me.”

Miguel Sano’s name is not mentioned in her statement until the final sentence. Here is Bissen’s original tweet in its entirety:

This is not easy for me to share, but I feel I need to share it. This is my story. #metoo pic.twitter.com/PM6g6YuABf

— Betsy (@BitzyBetsy) December 28, 2017

Now what?

Don’t ask me. That’s just a little above my pay grade, folks. I’ve expressed my desire to “give the people of Minnesota” what they want. If what you currently crave is the answer to that question, then I take that back…

It so early in the process. In regards to the allegations, the Twins have released the following statement:

#MNTwins statement on Miguel Sano: pic.twitter.com/ybQfQ4mcpm

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) December 28, 2017

I was just about to hit the “Publish” button, when this came up:

Miguel Sano Denies Assaulting Female Photog: ‘It Never Happened’ https://t.co/3CTAXYdTM5

— TMZ (@TMZ) December 28, 2017

Here we go…. This isn’t going to end well for anyone.

Minnesota Sports Fan will be monitoring and updating this story as it continues to develop.

Johnny Minnesota @TheJohnnyMN
Minnesota Sports Fan MinnesotaSportsFan.com