In a Twins lineup loaded with power hitters, center fielder Byron Buxton can get lost in the shuffle. Buxton’s nevertheless a valuable member of the reigning AL Central champions’ roster, though, and after undergoing left shoulder surgery last September, he’s recovering well, Phil Miller of the Star Tribune reports.
The 26-year-old Buxton received medical clearance this week to swing a bat again and could be ready to face live pitching by the time the Twins’ full-squad workouts begin Feb. 17. That’s yet another bit of encouraging for the Twins, who won 101 games a season ago and, after they struck a deal with star third baseman Josh Donaldson, appear very likely to open 2020 as the favorites in their division.
Buxton’s known to play the field with reckless abandon, which helped lead to injuries that limited him to a meager 87 games and 295 plate appearances last year. Despite an abbreviated campaign, he was an important part of Minnesota’s superb effort. The former No. 2 overall pick managed 2.7 fWAR, hit .262/.314/.513 with 10 home runs and 14 stolen bases, and posted 10 Defensive Runs Saved, a plus-8.7 Ultimate Zone Rating and 12 Outs Above Average in center. None of that production is easily replaceable, and if Buxton’s healthy enough to start 2020 in the Twins’ outfield, it’ll make an already strong team even better.
My favorite Twin. Love watching that man play. It is poetry in motion. How in the heck can you fix that reckless abandon? Any ideas?
Love watching the guy play too… usually about 4 more years and 3 or 4 more injuries start to slow a guy down…..
Yeah teach him not to be dumb.
You dont. You let him do him. Sure the injuries may catch up but let him play. It’s probably the only way he knows how. Same with KK over here. Gotta love it and appreciate it. Didnt realize he’s only 26. Mind is catching up to the body hopefully and his potential is yet to come. Hard to root against the twins. Rays Up!
I’m officially going Minnesota Twins for my 2020 MLB The Show Franchise.
Just make sure to turn all the lights off in your parents basement when your done with you Nintendos
Now THAT is funny
Eh, he didn’t even use the word neckbeard.
Low effort – 3/10
Not funny didn’t laugh.
Amish style neck beard
snooze
It’s a PlayStation exclusive 😉
That’ll change soon. They’re going to put it on others possibly as early as 2021.
too early: recent studies show that re-injury of shoulders after surgery are more likely in the 3-6 months period after the surgery because they aren’t healed enough for higher levels of activity… and No I wouldn’t trust the doctors who OKed heavy activity this soon..
He’s only just now been cleared to swing a bat, he’s likely not to be cleared to face live pitching for another month, which will be five full months after his surgery. If that’s too soon, what do you think would be appropriate?? I’m not trying to be a smart alec, I’m genuinely curious..
I just can’t see the Twins playing fast and loose with a player that have alot vested in, and with a player, by keeping him healthy, it would significantly increase the likelihood they win their division.
When healthy, Buxton is a huge difference maker for the Twins. He gives then an excellent blend of speed and power at the plate, he runs the bases extremely well, and provides arguably more value in CF than any other defender in MLB..One would think they would be extra careful with Buxton, wanting him to be healthy for a postseason run..Then again, teams do stupid things all the time so yeah..lol
Go back to your Braves, they need your analysis desperately!
But the Twins have played fast and loose with players health: In 2017 Sano fouled a ball of his shin.. The Twins not only tried to rehab the injury, they cleared him to play in hopes of getting him for the Post season.. After the season, Sano had surgery to insert titanium rods to stabilize the broken bone in his leg. Yes they played him on what they called a stress reduction.. which is a Bone Bruise.. which in reality is micro-fracturing of the bone.. They literally rehabed and played him on a broken leg.. bone bruising weakens the structure and rehabbing probably made the fracture much worse.. That isn’t the only instance.. i have documented many over the years.. calling out obvious injuries the twins played people on.. Castro had what i surmised from his gait and the fact that it didn’t hurt when he was squatted but hurt when he ran..to be a torn Meniscus cartridge in his knee in April 2018.. they played him until May.. and then he had season ending surgery for a torn Meniscus.. and so you’ll know all the facts.. they Twins tried to rehab Buxton’s torn shoulder and had him playing with the tear last fall.. ( which likely made it worse)..with me posting and screaming at them to quit.. it wasn’t a small tear, it was major surgery… and even the best take about 1 year to full strength after major surgeries..
Please stop. I’ve seen all I care to see from Twins fans and their rose-colored glasses wearing fan sites .Sano’s “stress reaction” (not reduction) had absolutely nothing to do with the foul off his shin. It’s impossible. Stress reactions are never caused by acute injury. Ever. That’s now how they work. They are a repetitive stress injury consisting of many tiny micro-fractures and have nothing in common with a “bone bruise” which involves acute trauma to only the surface of the bone. Stress reactions are most common in runners who ramp up their distance and intensity too fast, before their ligaments, tendons and bones are able to strengthen sufficiently.
Sano’s “stress reaction” was from a lack of conditioning, massive weight gain and a sudden huge increase in impact exercise (running). His inability to recover in a reasonable time frame from his leg injuries was due to him being obese and all of that extra mass putting too much stress on his leg bones when they were trying to heal. Sano was 70lbs+ over his ideal weight. It’s like carrying around two bags of water softener salt everywhere you go. That’s why his leg wouldn’t heal and why he needed such severely invasive treatment.
I think you have it backwards: he had a bone bruise from the foul.. he developed a stress fracture from them trying to rehab his injury…
I don’t know how Sano was told to rehab initially and I doubt anybody on this site knows.
Bone bruise rehab wouldn’t normally have any impact or strenuous exercise. I suppose the ramp up after the bone bruise recovery to try and get game ready resulted in the stress reaction… but if that’s the case, it’s still directly related to Sano’s weight and conditioning.
Nuts, I liked both comments. But I like martras comment more.
Overweight makes a lot of sense!
Can’t it be a bit of both?
Would he still have been worn down by the MLB grind if he was ideal weight?
If I was hit by a comebacker on the instep of my pushoff foot while pitching at ideal weight, is there truly no worry that a stress reaction could develop over time? Consider mid-30s age as a factor? Sincerely curious, you seem smart, keep up the good work (or the illusion hahah).
Cheers fellow baseball fans!
your are absolutely correct Sano’s 325 pound definitely were a factor in the process, but rest is the only rehab for a bone bruise as far as I know.. There is the possibility they Missed the extent of the depth and breadth of the injury.. so much so it is almost a certainty..
Non surgical treatment of medial tibial stress reaction injuries is by strengthening the muscles of the leg. In other words, rehab. Depending on the severity of the stress reaction, the doctor will typically prescribe 4-12 weeks of no running. Non impact exercise like riding a bike or swimming is typically the rehab used to strengthen muscles.
Rehab should follow only after a proscribed rest period: ‘
“How is a bone bruise treated?
Treatment for a bone bruise may include:
Resting the bone or joint
Applying ice to the area several times a day
Raising the injury above the level of your heart to reduce swelling
Medicine to reduce pain and swelling
Wearing a brace or other device to limit movement, if needed”
urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?conte…
Says Debbie Downer (someoldguy)…
they can ruin his career if he gets reinjured coming back to fast.. and 4 months is too fast according to the medical papers I have read on major shoulder surgery..
So you’re complaining about at least a 5 month long recovery for an injury that was said to have a 5-6 month recovery back in sept
And was given the caveat as well “if all goes well”
Some just like to complain..
no they are bringing him back TOO fast.. and its only 4 month.. it should be 6 minimum..
Depending on the severity of the injury, rehab is typically non impact exercise and no running for 4-12 weeks for stress reactions in the tibia. .
Twins have 2 potential studs in minors
Buxton wont be missed!
Yeah the guy who was a consensus best prospect in the game for multiple seasons in the row… who needs scrub talent like that!?
Oh yeah, the cubs
Imagine the Cubs wait another century to win a World Series
Cubs ws champions 2116!
A healthy Buxton is arguably the best defensive outfielder in baseball. One of the best baserunners, too – third in all of baseball in sprint speed with a career 88% success rate. In his only “full” season (140 games), he put up a 5.1 bWAR despite a mediocore 93 OPS+. Last season, he showed huge improvements as a hitter. Compared to that full season in 2017, he cut his strikeout rate from 29.4% to 23.0% and increased his slugging percentage 100 points (despite a relatively lower BABIP).
Obviously, staying healthy is a huge obstacle for him. But there’s a reason he was the game’s top prospect for a few years in a row. A healthy Byron Buxton is one of the game’s best players.
Buxton, Judge and Harper are the kings of the high-ceiling, high-talent, low-IQ OF-defender archetype that coaches and fans have mistakenly dubbed “playing hard” but in reality just means they will be on the IL way too much, which stinks because they’re the players we all pay to see.
Harper has averaged 136 games per season. Not many that have played more games than he has from 2012-2019. fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=of&stats=bat&#…
Stud hitters maybe. They don’t replace Buxton’s defense or speed, and he was smacking extra base hits galore before being injured. He will be back soon.
I am not even a Twins fan and I am routing for him to stay healthy all year. He is such a exciting player to watch
Serious question that I could probably google… what’s the most games he’s played in one season and what were his stats. All I can remember was overhype but I haven’t paid attention close from the outside with the mashing the Twins do
he has had 2 parts in 2 years Year where he looked better than much average at the plate.. the rest of the time sub average..
FYI, players names are in Red as they are directly linked to Baseball Reference. Just click on the player’s name at the beginning of the article.
Chop on!!!
Story starts off like they are gonna get rid of him or he’ll never play again for the twins… I always thought he was overrated as a prospect, but he’s still a heck of a ball player and I think he’s still gonna he really good. He’s going no where
Would the twins ever consider trading him?
Well, Buxton was the first name the Mets uttered in talks for Syndergaard. They quickly said he wasn’t going anywhere. It seems like they have no intention of moving him. His is quite a difference maker when healthy.
Buxton’s physical abilities are undeniably elite. He’s arguably the fastest player in baseball, owns a cannon for an arm and great baseball instincts. His bat is still questionable, but over his last 600 plate appearances, he’s been an straight average hitter (wRC+ 100) and there’s some potential it could improve still.
That said, Buxton has several chronic issues (wrist, back, migraines) since his early 20s in addition to his other acute injuries coming from his aggressive play and physical abilities themselves. It’s unrealistic to expect he could play more than 120 games in a season going forward, and I think it’s unlikely to expect more than 100.
Here’s hoping I’m wrong because players like Buxton are incredibly fun to watch and they’re great for baseball!
“Buxton’s known to play the field with reckless abandon, which helped lead to injuries”
Very important part right here.
It’s weird, in the NBA this is called a “low IQ” player. Guys like Buxton, Judge and Bryce Harper are low IQ players on defense, no matter how good they actually are at it, whom their defenders argue is “playing hard” – but as we have seen with pitchers who “throw hard” and then get TJ, “playing hard” is a low IQ move, at all times. Getting hurt trying to turn a single into an out, oftentimes with no one on base in the early innings of a game, is absolutely what a low IQ choice is. Plenty of OF let the ball drop in front of them, so they can have a shot limiting the damage, that they then can personally try to reverse at the plate later on. That is what a “high IQ” outfield play is. Knowing when to make the risky play, and knowing what kinds of plays will injure you, is the sign of a high IQ player.
Just an interesting note on language in MLB’s lexicon compared with the NBA’s.
Interesting take.
I would say it’s a fine line, probably in both (many/all?) sports, between reckless abandon and killer instinct. Some guys have all the luck and can get away with it more often. But the ability to zone in can get a guy carried away and losing focus of the bigger picture sometimes.
Low IQ in a lot of cases certainly, but some of these guys get hit with freak injuries as well. An injury can be luck of the draw so why hold back and risk losing that killer instinct that makes you elite?
Buxton has definitely earned his reputation no matter what way you look at it. Harper has actually hit 600+ PA in 4 of last 5 years. Hard to group him in there. Judge may be injury prone, but batting injuries are hard to group in there as well. Judge inflicts pain on walls and seems like quite a smooth fielder to me.
Other players that come to mind, high IQ or low IQ?
Trout injured three years in a row and plays hard. Starting career with 5 injury free seasons keeps him immune to me.
Griffey had an injury prone three year stretch and played hard. Memorably injured himself playing too hard you could say. Fine line. He found his healthy groove again.
Kiermaier may be the most similar to Buxton. Definitely earned any reputation he may have. Elite defender. Injury prone. One season over 500 PA after six seasons. Came close in his sixth. His healthiest year seems to be the year he was catching everything.
And another that plays quite similar, minus the elite talent, is Pillar. Three out of five full seasons. Only lost 2 weeks with a broken thumb- sliding, and 3 weeks with a broken chest- wallcrashing. Both injuries should’ve been 4-6 weeks. Coming back too soon. Playing hurt. Wonder why he can’t improve at the dish, and then consider how sore he must always be! He’s actually my pick for low IQ king. Firing up the fans has gotta be a pretty priceless feeling, tough to resist?
I’d say with MLB lexicon, the term maturity would be the alternative to NBA using IQ. Just a guess. Cheers.
Harper has averaged 136 games per season. Only 2 OF in the NL that have played more games than he has from 2012-2019.
So what you are trying to say that all other OF in the NL the past 8 years are even lower IQ players than Harper?
I really like Buxton, but I think the Twins may be better-off without him.
Why not have someone 80% as good, who can play a full season, and doesn’t need to knock off the rust 3-4 times per season?
Yeah, where do you draw that line/cut ties?
If that guy can just stay healthy…..
And could get a really good value in return.
And could get a really good value in return.
I am glad some people agree.
I am tired of “Waiting for Godot.”