Byron Buxton Is Back, and the Twins Badly Need His Glove in Center

[Ted Schwerzler]

Sidelined since limping off the field with a sore right knee on May 2nd, Byron Buxton spent a little over two weeks on the injured list before being activated on Saturday. During his absence, the Twins and their fans got a stark reminder of how valuable Buxton's defense is in comparison to the alternatives.

 

Image courtesy of Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports

Coming into this season the Minnesota Twins knew that playing Byron Buxton solely as their designated hitter wasn’t going to be an option. He struggled in that role offensively last season, and it didn’t ultimately help him to get healthy enough to play defense, which is where so much of his value is felt. This year we have seen him play 28 games, and the vast majority have come in center field.

Up until the latest injury, a bout of knee inflammation that revealed no structural damage, Rocco Baldelli was able to deploy his center fielder in virtually all scenarios. Buxton had started games for the Twins, remained in during extra innings, and had even been used as a defensive replacement. All of those outcomes speak positively as to how his body has been feeling.

In getting Buxton back from the injured list, that’s the exact kind of availability that Minnesota will continue to need. His offensive production has been muted, unable to catch up to fastballs or show a high level of plate discipline, but his defense hasn’t slumped. At a positive 3.4 defensive value per FanGraphs, Buxton ranks third among players with at least 50 innings in center field. It’s not surprising that he has posted a 0.7 fWAR in limited action, given his 4 defensive runs saved and 3 outs above average.

It's not so much about what Buxton adds as what gets subtracted when he's in center field. Defensive values for Manuel Margot (-0.1), Austin Martin (-1.9) and Willi Castro (-2.3) are all poor. The latter two rank 53rd and 55th among a 56-player pool with 50 or more innings in center field. Margot has been anything but the expected similar replacement for Michael A. Taylor, and Castro has been an adventure in center dating back to last season. His latest inexcusable mishap had him forgetting the number of outs, costing the Twins a run, and launching a third out ball from the stadium in frustration.

While Martin started out respectable on the offensive side of things, only Castro's bat warrants a regular place in the lineup among the trio filling in for Buxton. Even with his struggles at the dish, Buxton still owns a roughly average 98 OPS+ that he is returning to, and everyone is aware how quickly that number can rise if starts to click.

Through their 12-game winning streak, the Twins saw exceptional starting pitching performances and they played strong defense. The lineup is unquestionably going to go through ebbs and flows that force the team to remain competitive in other facets. Defense is a relatively straightforward place to show up every night, but it’s clear that Minnesota has significant limitations from their alternative center field options.

Buxton returning for the Twins in a key series with the Cleveland Guardians sets up a reality where Minnesota will look to establish divisional dominance. The recent rate of winning wasn’t going to sustain for the duration of the year, but it helped to bring Minnesota back in the race. Now they have three-quarters of the season to continue producing, and the more Buxton can be a part of that the better.

Given his lack of availability was due to inflammation, it stands to reason that this sort of thing could be a circumstance that presents itself again throughout the year. Buxton quickly said his goal was to miss near a minimum amount of time while listening to his body and not trying to play through what was holding him back. On the wrong side of 30 years old, that level of thinking must be utilized more often than not the rest of his career, and all sides will be better for more availability at peak performance.

There’s no denying the Twins are better with Byron Buxton available to them, and it is now beyond clear the overall effectiveness of their outfield relies on it.

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[Patzky]

Hitting is no guarantee.. with Buxton out, fielding wasn't either!

[mnfireman]

Watched Darryl Strawberry throw a ball out of Jack Murphy Stadium in the late '80's out frustration, both with his performance and the jeering from the fans. Of course we fans dialed back our jeers and taunts and showered him with compassion...

Glad to have Buxton's glove back, hopefully his bat picks up where it was before he got hurt (.304/.360/.522 (.882) over his last 14 games).

[bean5302]

Offseason priorities/requirements for the front office.
#1 - Acquire legitimate every day potential center fielder who could back up Buxton
#2 - Acquire front line starter.
#3 - Add big RH bat.
None of this was accomplished. Buxton absolutely cannot be the only CF on the roster, and yet...

[DocBauer]

I'm excited to have Byron back and patrolling CF. I really hope the bat begins to take off because we know that at any minute he can just explode. Watching him run the bases, and racing across the OF grass is one of the most enjoyable things there is to being a Twins fan.

Unfortunately, even in a "healthy" season, he's going to miss time. I have no problem with Castro in CF on an occasional basis. In theory, Margot was a small step down but legitimate option to replace MAT when he and the Twins just couldn't come to terms early enough in the offseason to make a reunion possible. But Margot has simply not been close to the player he was the previous 7 seasons. If he were, we'd have that solid backup to Buxton and slightly below league average bat...but good against LHP...that would be perfectly acceptable in a part time role.

What we've seen in Byron's absence the past couple of weeks is exactly why a lot of us were saying we didn't think Castro as the primary backup, or Martin...just a half a season of good production/play at AAA...made sense as a primary, daily backup when Buck went down. And now we're seeing that playing out exactly as thought/feared. Again, I like Castro out there on an occasional basis. I still have some hope for Martin, though he didn't exactly impress in his debut yet.  Margot was a move that made sense on paper based on age, under 30yo, and career numbers. And he's almost certainly going to get a few more weeks to see what happens. But so far...sheesh!

BUT, if a couple things don't turn around over the next couple of weeks, I tell you what I'd do:

1} Just accept Margot isn't going to work out and you didn't get the guy you thought you were. Time to move on.

2} I'm a huge fan of Kirilloff and still have hope he can become the hitter everyone thought he could be, or at least close to it. But HR against Cleveland in the opening game notwithstanding, he's been awful for about 3-4 weeks now. Even if he's healthy, he needs a Wallner type of re-set to get going.

3} Even without manipulating the 40 man, if Margot is just gone, there's a spot for Keirsey to be brought up. Is he ready? Can he be a viable ML starter? Can he be at least a viable, quality reserve/part-timer? Well, we don't know until he gets a shot. But he adds speed and defense to the team in a big way. He's got some power. He finally learned how to hit in 2022 when things finally started to "click" for him. He really couldn't be any worse, or less productive than Margot has been. It's time to see if we've got something in the late bloomer....or not.

[Doctor Gast]

Without a doubt, we miss Buxton's elite glove making difficult catches at CF look easy. With injuries to Buxton, Correa & Lewis; Castro has been stretched very thin & the stress of playing the Yanks has probably done him in. Castro has been playing admirably until then. Inexperience has at times become apparent even with Martin's athleticism making good plays. Shawn Keirsey should have been called up to help out. IMO we have pretty good CF depth but Buxton is the best & we need him in CF.

[wabene]

3 hours ago, mnfireman said:

Glad to have Buxton's glove back, hopefully his bat picks up where it was before he got hurt (.304/.360/.522 (.882) over his last 14 games).

Yo fireman, how were you able to look up that time frame?

[bean5302]

59 minutes ago, wabene said:

Yo fireman, how were you able to look up that time frame?

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/byron-buxton/14161/game-log?type=2&gds=&gde=&season=&position=OF

When selecting a group of games in the "Game Log" tab hold the Shift key, left click on the starting row, then click on the end date row. Similar rules on BaseballReference.com

[DocBauer]

45 minutes ago, wabene said:

Yo fireman, how were you able to look up that time frame?

If you look up a player on MLB.COM you will see at the top of the page the past 7 days, 14 days, and 30 days of production and numbers for a player in that time frame. 

BASEBALL REFERENCE will show the past 5 games at the top of the page. But I believe you can break it down more but I don't recall how to at the moment. 

[Linus]

His glove will be a huge help. I think the Twins hitting philosophy is horrible for Buck. He’s always had a longish swing that doesn’t make him quick to the hitting zone and then they are telling him essentially to guess and swing out of your shoes. Hence the pull heavy swings that make him vulnerable to many pitch locations. I would have him lower his hands and let the ball travel a little. A double to right center is an ok thing. He’s my favorite player so I hope he figures it out. 

[Schmoeman5]

He did not look like his normal self tonight. A couple balls that I think he normally catches fell in. Err on the side of caution perhaps?

[tony&rodney]

We all hope Buxton can get it together. The physical skills such as speed, strength, and reactions seem decent but the fielding is more tentative and Buck's swings are not good at this time. It is still May and thus plenty of games to play, but something needs to be corrected or refined. The current model isn't very promising. I sure hope Byron can make the mechanical changes needed for him to find some success.

[Schmoeman5]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

We all hope Buxton can get it together. The physical skills such as speed, strength, and reactions seem decent but the fielding is more tentative and Buck's swings are not good at this time. It is still May and thus plenty of games to play, but something needs to be corrected or refined. The current model isn't very promising. I sure hope Byron can make the mechanical changes needed for him to find some success.

Not to disagree, but I think his hit to rf in his last AB was one of his best swings all year. He's been pretty much dead pull all year so far. Maybe it's a positive sign. I hope

[Whitey333]

Well it's obvious the season was just saved by Buxton gracing us with his presence.  Yes he's an excellent center fielder but is just an average hitter at tge plate.  We all want him to be healthy and do well but we are relegated to wondering when his next trip to the IL will occur.  

[DJL44]

18 hours ago, DocBauer said:

3} Even without manipulating the 40 man, if Margot is just gone, there's a spot for Keirsey to be brought up. Is he ready? Can he be a viable ML starter? Can he be at least a viable, quality reserve/part-timer? Well, we don't know until he gets a shot. But he adds speed and defense to the team in a big way. He's got some power. He finally learned how to hit in 2022 when things finally started to "click" for him. He really couldn't be any worse, or less productive than Margot has been. It's time to see if we've got something in the late bloomer....or not.

Keirsey could be just as bad at the plate as Margot but would be a better defender. I'm okay with making him the CF when Buxton is injured (instead of calling up Martin) but there's not a good reason to keep him on the roster when Buxton is available.

[USAFChief]

I wonder if Buxton is actually healthy. He looked slow and tentative in CF last night. There were two shallow hits that I felt pretty clearly he should have caught. Would have caught, in the past. 

EDIT: And he's not in Sunday's lineup.