Article: Buxton Not Alone In Early-Season Struggles

[drjim]

 

On Aprll 20th, Buxton stumbled back down to a .257 OPS.

 

A dozen days and eight games later, he's sitting at a .478 OPS.

 

HIs K percentage, once sitting near 50%, is down to 36.6%, just one percentage point above last season. Over that eight game stretch, his K rate is at a high but acceptable 26%.

 

I'm starting to get a little bit excited about the guy.

 

It is early, but it does seem a little sustainable if he can keep that k rate manageable.

 

Seems like he'll start hitting with a little bit more pop and his babip has to climb with his speed.

[Linus]

He scorched two balls last night. He's much different than Hicks was. Buck is not passive at all and still takes a healthy hack (too healthy imo). Hicks was so passive almost hoping for a walk.

[twinssporto]

Buck is gonna be just fine.  He looks much more composed at the plate.  Especially when he's watching balls go by outside the strike zone.  

 

Here's the fun part:  Imagine when he really starts to get on a hot streak or turns the corner hitting (which it looks like he is doing now)...Between him and Sano.  Should be fun to watch.  The Twins really do have two HUGE future all-stars.  

 

Giddy up.

[ashbury]

Here's the fun part:  Imagine when he really starts to get on a hot streak

His BABIP has been above .400 during the recent stretch Brock mentioned. How much hotter do you expect he'll get?

 

If anything, the BABIP has me tempering my expectations for a while yet. Baby steps for the rest of the first half, at least.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

His BABIP has been above .400 during the recent stretch Brock mentioned. How much hotter do you expect he'll get?

 

If anything, the BABIP has me tempering my expectations for a while yet. Baby steps for the rest of the first half, at least.

The BABIP is a mild concern but he's making contact and that's what really matters.

 

Up to this point, the overwhelming majority of Byron's hits have been singles. I'm hoping that starts to change and soon. He's making good enough contact now that hits should start dropping in for multiple bases.

[Brock Beauchamp]

This is a fun video.

 

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/228161150/twins-byron-buxton-shows-off-blazing-speed/

 

When Buxton made his catch last night, he was traveling 29 feet per second.

 

Byron's triple was the fastest first-to-third recorded in baseball this season.

 

And he did it standing up.

 

Damn, this kid is fun to watch.

[Bill Brown69]

Not only standing up but slowing down as he approached 3rd.

 

Buck has 4 of the 10 fastest times in the stat cast era!

[drjim]

 

This is a fun video.

 

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/228161150/twins-byron-buxton-shows-off-blazing-speed/

 

When Buxton made his catch last night, he was traveling 29 feet per second.

 

Byron's triple was the fastest first-to-third recorded in baseball this season.

 

And he did it standing up.

 

Damn, this kid is fun to watch.

 

So fun. Please, please, please get that k rate down, everything else will be golden.

[ashbury]

When Buxton made his catch last night, he was traveling 29 feet per second.

In real-time, as the play developed I thought there was no chance he gets to the ball. Then suddenly he was going even faster, and got to it in plenty of time. I think the video voiceover said that was around a 25% play based on time and distance - my eyeball had it even lower than that, so apparently he's slower than I thought.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

In real-time, as the play developed I thought there was no chance he gets to the ball. Then suddenly he was going even faster, and got to it in plenty of time. I think the video voiceover said that was around a 25% play based on time and distance - my eyeball had it even lower than that, so apparently he's slower than I thought.

When I saw the play, this was the sound effect playing in my head:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-G0SVEQW8A

[Mike Frasier Law]

Last 14 days (9 games)

 

269/424/462

21.2% walk rate, 18.2% k rate

.192 ISO

316 BABIP

[Mike Sixel]

 

Last 14 days (9 games)

 

269/424/462

21.2% walk rate, 18.2% k rate

.192 ISO

316 BABIP

 

that would be great!

[Ben Noble]

 

Last 14 days (9 games)

 

269/424/462

21.2% walk rate, 18.2% k rate

.192 ISO

316 BABIP

 

Lots of stuff to like here, but I might be most encouraged by the walk rate.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Last 14 days (9 games)

 

269/424/462

21.2% walk rate, 18.2% k rate

.192 ISO

316 BABIP

To put it a different way, Byron Buxton has now been good almost as long as he was bad.

 

First 15 games:

.082 / .135 / .122 / .257

52 PAs

24 SO

 

Last 11 games:

.281 / .410 / .438 / .848

39 PAs

9 SO

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

To put it a different way, Byron Buxton has now been good almost as long as he was bad.

In 2017.  People seem to ignore he was epically bad to start 2016 too.  I suspect even when he's finally "established", he might just be a streaky hitter (which isn't necessarily bad, but probably caps his offensive ceiling a bit).

Edited May 9, 2017 by spycake

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

In 2017.  People seem to ignore he was epically bad to start 2016 too.  I suspect even when he's finally "established", he might just be a streaky hitter (which isn't necessarily bad, but probably caps his offensive ceiling a bit).

Sure. I was speaking of only 2017.

 

But the fact he has rebounded so quickly and well over the past 11 games is promising. I was hoping for mediocrity, not way above average hitting.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Byron Buxton's average exit velocity (87.69 mph) is now nearly identical to the MLB average (87.76 mph).

 

It has climbed ~1.5 mph over the past 2-3 weeks.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Buxton's at-bats are definitely must-see TV now.  Every base hit is a potential extra base hit!

[Mike Sixel]

encouraging!

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'm cautiously optimistic about Buxton. He started taking good plate appearances and minimized his weakness against hard inside pitches a bit. Pitchers are now forced to face him straight-up instead of throwing him junk and allowing Byron to get himself out. He stopped swinging, which forced pitchers to throw him strikes and now he's hitting said strikes.

 

It's likely he will see some success until the next adjustment comes. At that point, I'm not sure what happens. Hopefully the worst is well behind us.

[drjim]

He hasn't done anything long enough to matter, but much of the early coverage of Buxton was that no one player had a stretch like that and turned it around into a substantial career. Someone has to be the first right?

 

It has been a pretty remarkable stretch considering where he was.