Minnesota Twins: Byron Buxton getting the short end of the stick
After an explosive second half in 2017, the Minnesota Twins have been seemingly jerking around their uber-talented center fielder in 2018
The Minnesota Twins made the playoffs in 2017 on the strength of a second-half surge that started in August. While essentially the entire team surged, a big leader in that push to the postseason was center fielder Byron Buxton. From August 1st to the end of the season, Buxton hit .298/.342/.541 with 7 doubles, 5 triples, 11 home runs, and 13 stolen bases.
Many had hopes that Buxton would take the next step in his development in 2018. Perhaps expecting a full season at his second-half pace was only in the minds of the real dreamers, but certainly, an .800 OPS with 20/20 potential was achievable.
Instead, fans and prognosticators should have been looking at one particular line from that second-half stat grouping. Buxton walked 12 times, for a 5.33% rate, and he struck out 62 times, for a 27.56% rate. While the strikeout rate was actually lower for Buxton than it had been, the lack of walks with continued high strikeouts spoke to his end-season performance being more mirage than predictive.
One thing Buxton won’t do, however, is give less than 100%, and that’s why it’s really on his team to help give him a break if he’s injured or needing a day off to get his head right at the plate. For any of the faults many could find with Paul Molitor, his handling of players in and out of slumps is definitely one of his major positives.
The Minnesota Twins instead in 2018 have let Byron Buxton determine way too much of his playing. He struggled with migraines just after the season opened, landing on the disabled list, and when he was working in the minor leagues to return, he suffered a hairline fracture to his toe.
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Buxton returned from the fractured toe on May 10th, which was roughly 2 weeks after being diagnosed with the fracture. While every hairline fracture does behave differently, that is incredibly quick, and the Twins, rather than easing him back in, started him in 7 games in the first 8 days he was up in the bigs, and none of those starts was at DH – every single one required Buxton to roam center field.
Yes, Byron Buxton is one of the best defensive players in the entire game of baseball. He won the Platinum Glove last season as the best fielder across all positions for a reason, but he’s also a young, aggressive player that doesn’t dial back his effort on a fly ball simply because he’s not 100% health-wise.
The Minnesota Twins were frustrated with the results of that time Buxton was healthy, and when he re-aggravated his toe at the end of May, it was no surprise to many who follow the team.
Now, as he’s ready to return from a month on the disabled list, actually getting some rest, the Minnesota Twins demote Byron Buxton to AAA to seemingly get his bat going again. Finally, the team stepped in to help him calm himself down a bit and get his focus back, but it took three months of injury and on-field struggles for that to finally happen, which is what is incredibly frustrating.
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Byron Buxton knocked out a leadoff home run in his first game in AAA. Here’s hoping he shows the Minnesota Twins that he’s ready and can come up and have another strong finish to the season. Certainly, the team didn’t help in his progress this season, however.