The Slight Adjustments That Made Byron Buxton a Derby-Worthy Home Run Hitter

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

It's easy to slap the "good when healthy" label on Byron Buxton, and the label sticks. Not all "good" is created equal, though. Last year, Buxton was quite good. He batted .279/.335/.524, and he cracked 48 extra-base hits in just 388 plate appearances. This year, though, he's been better than that. He's been great when healthy in 2025, and he's been pretty healthy. At the All-Star break, Buxton already has 333 plate appearances and is hitting .289/.351/.574. There are some extra walks in there, which are always nice, but the big difference—the one we'll all get to watch in a fun and unique setting Monday night—is that Buxton has tapped more fully into his power. He has another 39 extra-base hits, and 21 of them have flown out of the park.

That's about a lot more than good health. Good health can help, by letting the body work the way it's supposed to, but that alone is not enough. To go from a guy who was on pace to hit 30 homers in a full season to one with a great chance to hit 40, while drawing more walks and not striking out more? That's a full-fledged maturation from a great hitter. Indeed, Byron Buxton is still improving and changing, at age 31.

We've already talked about how he's using the opposite field more this year, but that's a contributing factor to his improved plate discipline—or a product thereof. It's not where his power boost has come from. That all lies in his swing, and the way he's locked it in for maximal damage when pitchers make mistakes.

Firstly, Buxton has changed how he's set up in the box this year, making it easier for him to get directly to the ball at his best bat speed. He's more open in his stance, and slightly more upright. He's not striding farther from that position, though, which means that he's able to rotate just as fast and has a bit more control of his bat path in the upper half of the zone. He's also farther off the plate, which gives him more room to cover the inner third than he's had in the past, but the natural length of his swing has still given him plenty of power on the outer edge. Here's his stance and stride from 2024, courtesy of Baseball Savant.

And here's the same visualization for 2025, where you can see him opened up and set to work differently through the ball.

Thanks to that tweak (and his good health), Buxton's swing is a bit freer, and that gets him on plane a bit earlier. In turn, that changes how long he can stay on plane with the pitch, without rolling over on the ball. Buxton's swing has gotten a tiny bit flatter this year, not because of a conscious change to how he tilts the bat or when he breaks his hands, but because of the pitches he's choosing and the stronger position his lower body and trunk are in. Here's what his swing looked like right at the moment when he first got on plane with the pitch, each of the last two years.

See how, this year, that all happens with his body more upright, and with his hands deeper, relative to his body? The result of that is that Buxton can drive the ball better to center and to right-center—but also that he's getting up to speed in his swing sooner, so that he doesn't have accelerate as much later. He's in position to attack the ball with less wasted movement, especially on anything around or above the belt.

That's why, this year, Buxton's barrel has been lethally accurate when pitchers make mistakes. He's swinging more on pitches up and out over the plate, and he's being more selective on everything else, because he can afford to be. A shorter stride and a more upright body change the way you see the ball, and they change your sense of timing, too. Buxton knows he's on time, so he doesn't feel rushed into swings at bad pitches. When he does swing, his slightly shorter and slightly faster cut catch the ball flush. Here's the percentage of pitches Buxton saw in 2024 on which he hit a Barrel, according to Statcast, by location.

Here, with the adjusted stance and swing and the approach they've facilitated, is the same chart for Buxton for 2025.

He might not be in position to drive as wide a variety of pitches as in the past, but Buxton now knows what his pitch looks like right out of the hand, and he absolutely does not miss it. This chart is also a near-perfect chart for a prospective Home Run Derby participant. All Tommy Watkins has to do on Monday night is get the ball into the middle of the zone; Buxton has crushed that pitch this year like few others can.

Buxton's swing is a bit different. His whole profile has changed. As long as he stays healthy, perhaps that will continue. For now, though, he's found something so valuable that he should just lock into it and ride it. Monday night should be a delightful time for that to happen.

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[Kevin Sheehan]

They all look nervous standing up there. Buck is my sleeper pick!

[Kevin Sheehan]

Watkins sucked getting the ball over the plate during warmups. Here’s to hoping he's better at BP than he is at holding or sending runners from 3rd base...

[Jeff K]

Just watching Buxton this year, his stroke looks more compact.  And he did a great job in the Derby.