MINNEAPOLIS — Miguel Sano has begun a critical offseason in his so-far-frustrating career with the Minnesota Twins, who plan to keep close tabs on the slugging third baseman frequently waylaid by injuries.

“The plan is to have very consistent touch points,” general manager Thad Levine said, “both by phone and quite frankly face to face.”

Sano left Minnesota last week for his native Dominican Republic, where he was involved in an incident with police outside a nightclub that left an officer with a broken leg. The incident was deemed an accident and no criminal charges were brought. Last winter, Sano was accused of assaulting a woman but Major League Baseball did not punish him after an investigation yielded insufficient evidence.

For now, though, the focus is on Sano’s physical condition. After losing the last six weeks of the 2017 season due to a lower left leg injury that required surgery, Sano missed time in May with a left hamstring injury. Then a hard slide in September resulted in soreness in his left knee, keeping him out of all but one more game the remainder of the season. In between, he was struggling so badly at the plate that he was sent to the minor leagues for about six weeks for a holistic reconditioning.

In a wide-ranging conference call with reporters on Tuesday, Levine and chief baseball officer Derek Falvey expressed the customary optimism about Sano’s attitude toward trying to re-establish himself as an All-Star. He’ll be asked to make periodic appearances at the team’s minor league facility in Fort Myers, Florida, with the possibility of also playing some winter ball. Sano will meet Monday with strength and conditioning staff at the organization’s academy in the Dominican Republic.

“We know he’s at an important crossroads in his career. He had a tough offseason last year,” Falvey said. “This is now an opportunity with what we expect a fully healthy offseason to take meaningful steps forward.”