Minnesota Twins infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka has his Spring Training sights set on emerging from camp as the team's starting shortstop.
Nishioka struggled to adjust to the position last season when he had ten errors in 60 games at shortstop so as the Twins prepare for the 2012 season, manager Ron Gardenhire is keeping his infield options open which and according to reports from camp on Friday, isn't opposed to trying Nishioka at third base.
Gardenhire doesn't want Nishioka to get discouraged but also wants to make sure the infielder keeps an open mind about the ways he can help the team win.
'I have to talk to Nishi about those things,'' Gardenhire said. ''I just want him to get going here in camp right now. As I said about Nishi, the year started off crazy for him, coming here for the first time, he was learning all kinds of things, a lot was thrown at him, he got hurt, which really set him back, and then he was hurt at the end of the year.
''He understands a lot more now about what we do and what we're trying to do; let's give him a chance to get back out there and play some baseball, and I told him that again today -- 'You're a really good baseball player. You can play.'''
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