Minnesota Twins top prospect Miguel Sano needs Tommy John surgery on his injured right elbow and will miss the entire 2014 season, the team confirmed Saturday.
The 20-year-old Sano will return to the Twins Cities this week, although the team has not determined when he will undergo the operation.
"I feel pretty frustrated," Sano told ESPN.com. "I want to cry, because it is very hard for me knowing I had the chance to play with the big team."
Sano underwent an exam after tweaking his elbow while making a throw during an intrasquad game on Thursday.
"We believe the right thing is to go ahead with the surgery," Twins assistant general manager Rob Antony said, according to MLB.com. "I still need to confer with his agent to get all the logistics regarding that, but basically from everything I've gathered from our doctors and trainers, it's an eight-month process from start to finish.
"He'll hopefully be doing some hitting things four months after the surgery. We hope to have the surgery sometime within in the next month. He'll have plenty of time to get ready for next year's spring training."
One of baseball's top power-hitting prospects, Sano had been diagnosed with a strained ulnar collateral ligament in the elbow this winter but was cleared to throw in spring training.
The 20-year-old Sano hit 35 home runs in just 123 minor league games in 2013 despite battling the elbow injury for much of the season. The 243-pound third baseman told the (Minneapolis) Star-Tribune earlier this offseason that he expected to hit anywhere from 45 to 55 homers this season.
Sano, who had hoped to make the Twins' Opening Day roster this year, recently was rated as baseball's No. 8 overall prospect by ESPN Insider Keith Law.
Information from ESPN Deportes' Billy Russo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
