Minnesota Twins: Byron Buxton has historic day, so let’s look at the history
By Jason Burke
Byron Buxton broke out in a big way on Sunday, smashing three dingers and swiping his 24th bag of the season in the Minnesota Twins’ 7-2 win in Toronto.
The Minnesota Twins have been among the American League’s best offensive clubs this month and currently hold a 1.5 game lead over the Angels and Mariners for the second Wild Card spot. The Yankees are still locked into that first spot by 3.5 games, but the Twins schedule is bound to be easier down the stretch, facing the AL Central, rather than the Yankees gauntlet of divisional playoff contenders.
According to ESPN Stats and Info, “Byron Buxton had 3 homers and a stolen base today. Elias notes that he’s the first player in Twins history to do that in a game, and the 5th player to do so in AL history. The others: Alex Rodriguez (2010 Yankees), Joe Carter (1989 Indians), Leroy Stanton (1973 Angels) and Carl Reynolds (1930 White Sox).”
A-Rod’s game came on August 14, 2010 against the Kansas City Royals and their squad of “I forgot/didn’t know they played there” players such as Gregor Blanco, Jason Kendall and Kila Ka’aihue. Sean O’Sullivan got the start for the Royals in that game, and the 29-year-old is currently pitching in the Korean League.
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Joe Carter’s day came against the Twins in ’89 and it was current Red Sox manager John Farrell that started the game for Carter’s Cleveland squad. The opposing pitcher, Allan Anderson, has a line on his Baseball Reference page that I have never seen before: “Sent from New York Yankees to ??? in unknown transaction.” He ended up with Texas as a free agent in February of 1993.
Leroy Stanton’s game may end up being the most impressive of the bunch. He played in 119 games that season (339 AB), cranked eight long balls and swiped three bags all season. The magical combination that landed him on this list–three homers and one steal–all coming in the same game is an extreme long shot, yet here we are talking about it. If there is a math person out there, please run those odds! Be sure to calculate that two of those shots came against Hall of Famer Jim Palmer in the year that he won his first Cy Young, too.
1930 was Reynolds’ best season in terms of going yard. He hit a career-high 22 dingers and swiped 16 bags that season. His outburst came on July 2, 1930, and two of the homers he hit also came off of a Hall of Famer, the Yankees’ Red Ruffing, who lasted just 1 2/3 innings this game after allowing seven earned and a total of three homers in his short time on the mound. Reynolds held an OPS of .973 that season.
For the season Buxton now has 13 homers and 24 stolen bases and has already been a two win player, even while holding a wRC+ of 79 before Sunday, 21 percent below league average. Buxton’s defense has long been superb, but another late-season surge at the plate is bringing back a lot of those “what if” questions that have surrounded Buxton’s big league career to date. Like what if he could be a force at the plate with that level of defense in center? That would be considered Troutian.
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Over 97 at-bats this month Buxton is batting .330 with eight homers and 21 RBI, which is even better than the run where he hit .277 with seven homers and 18 RBI in 94 at-bats last September that got everyone excited about the corner potentially being turned.
While yesterday’s numbers don’t necessarily mean anything in the grand scheme of history just yet, it could be looked at as another one of those turning point games for Buxton’s career down the road.