Why Byron Buxton Is Already a Top-10 Player in Twins History

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of William Parmeter

Since arriving in Minnesota in 1961, the Twins have strung together a chain of star-caliber players who were also stewards of the franchise. From Hall of Fame bats to dominant arms and homegrown stars that defined entire eras of baseball in the Upper Midwest, the organization has never lacked for greatness. The franchise has seen MVP winners, Cy Young winners, and World Series champions come through its clubhouse over the last six decades. Indeed, they've hardly ever been without that kind of presence, somewhere in the clubhouse.

Cracking the list of the best players to wear a Twins uniform isn't about having a great season or even a great peak. It requires sustained excellence over several years, and the ability to stack value in a way that holds up against legends. That's the standard by which Byron Buxton can now begin to measure himself.

Buxton has always been obviously talented—as much so as any player they've ever had. The question has never really been about his peak. It's been about how much he can add to his career totals before the clock runs out.

Right now, FanGraphs ranks Buxton as the ninth-best hitter in franchise history, with 26.9 fWAR. The complication for Buxton is that five pitchers also rank ahead of him in overall Twins history. With a similar output to last season, he'll surpass Dave Goltz at 27.0 fWAR and has an outside chance to move past Johan Santana at 31.7 fWAR. He's not going to catch the top two arms on that list, Bert Blyleven and Jim Kaat, who accumulated over 50 fWAR.

On the hitting side, the climb is just as steep. The only player Buxton could realistically pass in 2026 is Bob Allison, who sits at 31.0 fWAR. Ahead of him are Chuck Knoblauch (33.6 fWAR), Kent Hrbek (37.6), and Tony Oliva (40.7). Buxton produced 5.0 fWAR last season, and maintaining that pace would put Oliva within reach over the next three seasons under contract. That would place Buxton among the top five hitters in Twins history, with Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, Kirby Puckett, and Joe Mauer. Alas, normal age-related decline suggests Hrbek may ultimately represent the most realistic ceiling—and, of course, there's a chance he's traded before the contract ends.

Baseball Reference tells a similar story, even if the exact math changes. Buxton enters this season with 29.8 rWAR and trails a list of franchise icons that includes Carew, Killebrew, Mauer, Puckett, Radke, Oliva, Hrbek, Knoblauch, Santana, Kaat, and Allison. After posting 4.9 rWAR in arguably the best season of his career, Buxton has a chance to catch Allison (34.1 rWAR) as soon as this year. Multiple strong seasons would be needed to make up ground on Knoblauch (38.0 rWAR) and Hrbek (38.6 rWAR), with an outside shot at Oliva (43.1 rWAR) before his current deal expires.

What makes Buxton’s case so fascinating is how little he has actually played, relative to the players around him. He has appeared in just 898 career games for Minnesota. Every hitter ahead of him in these rankings logged at least 1,000 games with the Twins. Knoblauch is the closest, at 1,031 games, followed by Allison at 1,236. Everyone else ahead of Buxton cleared 1,600 games. The value he has created in a limited time has always been elite.

Among center fielders, Buxton has been playing at a Hall of Fame level. His 5.4 WAR/162 is above the average of the 21 HOFers at his position. His 5.4 WAR/162 is tied for 16th all-time among center fielders, with 11 of the players ahead of him already in Cooperstown and Mike Trout well on his way to joining them. Buxton has been elite, and that makes his time in the big leagues even more tragic, given how much injuries have impacted his ability to realize his potential.

The next three years will define the final chapter of Buxton’s Twins legacy. If he can continue producing four to five win seasons while staying on the field, he should comfortably move into the top ten players in franchise history and possibly challenge for a spot among the top five position players the organization has ever had.

If injuries once again limit his availability, he may end up remembered as one of the most electric talents the Twins ever developed, who simply ran out of time to build the counting stats needed to match his peak.

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Where does Buxton rank among the Twins’ all-time greats? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

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[ashbury]

8 minutes ago, Cody Christie said:

Right now, FanGraphs ranks Buxton as the ninth-best hitter in franchise history, with 26.9 fWAR.

Guh, who writes the headlines at TD?  They are always out of whack with the content.  There are four pitchers with higher WAR than Buxton.  The headline didn't limit the discussion to hitters.

Anyway, it barely needs repeating that he is a "what might have been" player with a probable HoF trajectory if he had better health.

[rdehring]

Love watching this young man play the game.  Add me to the list of those who want to see him stay with the Twins for his entire career.  And who knows, maybe, just maybe he can also get that ring a few years from now.

[KnoblauchWasFramed]

Byron Buxton in 11 seasons with the Twins - 2 All Star Games - I Gold/Platinum Glove - 2 seasons with over 100 total hits but 5 seasons with over 100 strike outs - 2 seasons over 20 stolen bases - 1 season with a WAR over 5.0 - 3 seasons with over 100 games played - 7 official playoff at bats - 1 season with 30 home runs.

That is all.

[Jim H]

Not sure War is best way or on!y way to compare all the players in Twins history. Leaving pitchers out of it there are a lot of players who had better or at comparable Twins careers to Buxton. That might not be true without all his injuries. Off the top of my head: Hunter, Gagne, Battey, Koskie, Gaetti, Kubel, Smalley and maybe a few others. I think we need to have a few more healthy seasons from Buxton before we vault him too far up a list like this.

[bean5302]

Buxton isn't even close to top 10.

Rod Carew HoF

Bert Blyeven HoF

Kirby Puckett HoF

Harmon Killebrew HoF

Joe Mauer HoF

Kent Hrbek

Tony Oliva HoF

Frank Viola

Chuck Knoblauch

Brad Radke

Johan Santana

At least 5 more at least before Buxton's name comes up in terms of contributions to the Twins.

Buxton has been with the Twins for a few years, and he's been All Star worthy for those years when healthy. A solid 5-6 WAR player if he plays a full season (which has happened 2x now). He ranks 13th in team history WAR, but few Twins players have seen less accomplished for the team over an 11 year tenure.

Buxton has never won an MVP. He's never lead the Twins to an AL Championship game appearance. The only year the Twins won a playoff game during his tenure he was hurt and managed only a single plate appearance. He's a 2x All Star. He's not going to the HoF. Buxton wasn't the face of the franchise while Correa was here.

Buxton could etch his name in the top 10, but he's not close right now.

 

[shimrod]

"Alas, normal age-related decline suggests Hrbek may ultimately represent the most realistic ceiling—and, of course, there's a chance he's traded before the contract ends."

We're trading Herbie?

[Bodie]

2 hours ago, shimrod said:

"Alas, normal age-related decline suggests Hrbek may ultimately represent the most realistic ceiling—and, of course, there's a chance he's traded before the contract ends."

We're trading Herbie?

Throw in Wallner or Larnach and the sky is the limit on on the return...

[IndianaTwin]

I prefer bWAR for the highly scientific reason of “I’m more familiar with navigating the baseball-reference.com Web site than I am Fangraphs.”

Based on bWAR, Buxton is already top 10 among Twins hitters:

1. Carew 63.8
2. Killebrew 60.6*
3. Mauer 55.6
4. Puckett 51.1
5. Oliva 43.1
6. Hrbek 38.6
7. Knoblauch 38.0
8. Allison 34.1*
9. Buxton 29.8

10. Gaetti 27.1

11. Hunter 26.4

Above or near him on the pitcher side are:

1. Blyleven 49.1
2. Radke 45.6
3. Santana 35.8
4. Pascual 33.2*
5. Kaat 30.6*
6. Viola 27.0

Those are franchise totals. I’ve asterisked the four who also played in Washington. If you want to include their stats in Washington, an argument can be included for considering Walter Johnson, but they haven't.

But in most cases, people have included the Washington stats for these four, since the vast majority of their franchise time was spent in Minnesota. In Killebrew (6.7 in Washington) and Allison’s case (3.5), a bit more than 10 percent of their bWAR came in Washington, so that's defensible to include those. Kaat would actually have his total go up by 1.2 if he didn’t have to include his youngster years in Washington. The tricky one is Pascual, who had 15.1 bWAR in Washington and 18.1 in Minnesota.

In looking at Puckett’s legacy in the past, I’ve framed it around a “likelihood of number being retired” discussion.

Buxton only needs 8.8 to catch No. 14 and 13.3 to catch No. 6, both very doable with three more years on his contract. Don’t forget that he only played 126 games last year in getting his 4.9 bWAR. He had two short IL stints, but when not on the list, he was playing virtually every day. The two short IL stints probably cost him another 0.5 to get to 5.4. I suspect the goal for this year is at least 140 games, and years of 5.0, 4.5 and 4.0 gets him past Oliva.

AND, if he actually has three more healthy years and is in the low to mid 40s after his age 34 season, there will be emotional push to extend his contract a year a few times and let him retire as a Twin. Catching Puckett frankly isn’t an impossibility. Continued decline to 3.5, 3.0 and 2.5 would do it over six years. What may hurt Buxton is if Jenkins or someone else pushes him off center field to left or even DH.

The Twins obviously use more than bWAR to determine retired numbers. Kaat’s bWAR as a Twin is significantly lower than the other retired number guys, but his was retired in conjunction with his Hall of Fame induction. Hrbek clearly got a hometown popularity/two World Series bonus – his total is only 0.6 more than Knoblauch, and I don’t think Knobby has really been considered.

And on the other side, if bWAR is the key factor, why have Carlos Gomez, Matt Carson, Danny Valencia, Wilkin Ramirez, Tim Stauffer, Miguel Sano, Griffin Jax and now Brooks Lee been allowed to wear No. 22? Radke’s bWAR is actually above Oliva and Hrbek.

But all in all, I think there’s a better than 50/50 chance nobody else wears No. 25 in the future.

[Bodie]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Buxton isn't even close to top 10.

Rod Carew HoF

Bert Blyeven HoF

Kirby Puckett HoF

Harmon Killebrew HoF

Joe Mauer HoF

Kent Hrbek

Tony Oliva HoF

Frank Viola

Chuck Knoblauch

Brad Radke

Johan Santana

At least 5 more at least before Buxton's name comes up in terms of contributions to the Twins.

Buxton has been with the Twins for a few years, and he's been All Star worthy for those years when healthy. A solid 5-6 WAR player if he plays a full season (which has happened 2x now). He ranks 13th in team history WAR, but few Twins players have seen less accomplished for the team over an 11 year tenure.

Buxton has never won an MVP. He's never lead the Twins to an AL Championship game appearance. The only year the Twins won a playoff game during his tenure he was hurt and managed only a single plate appearance. He's a 2x All Star. He's not going to the HoF. Buxton wasn't the face of the franchise while Correa was here.

Buxton could etch his name in the top 10, but he's not close right now.

 

Zolo Versalles (sp?)

Justin Morneau 

The 1965 starting rotation 

[oregontwin]

In considering his place amongst the hitters, it's even more impressive that he's reached those numbers against today's pitchers. What kind of monster might he have been in previous eras?

[mikelink45]

The only comparison I would make is at his position.  Puckett and Buxton are the true centerfielders.

Puckett had 12 years before his injury ended his career

Buxton has 11 years

Puckett played 1783 games

Buxton 898 and if Buxton played 162 he would fall far short of Puckett's number and that matters for impact on the team

Buxton's line for those 898 games 248/308/487/795

Puckett 318/360/477/837

I do not care what WAR says - Puckett far out distances Buxton.  Buxton is the second best position player of his era - Mauer number one.  

Sometimes ranking really do not matter.

 

 

[Whitey333]

Is this all Twins Daily can write about?  Another monthly installment of preaching to us how great Buxton is.  Oh please move on.  

[Rufus]

Nuts!

[arby58]

"For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'"

That will always define Buxton's career, unless, at age 32, he discovers Ponce de Leon's fountain of youth - I'd short that.

I've loved watching him play, and I'm old enough to have watched most everybody on these lists play. He is more a meteor than star, as the Twins baseball galaxy goes.

[slick83]

I would put Gary Gaetti ahead of buxton also,

[NYCTK]

3 hours ago, slick83 said:

I would put Gary Gaetti ahead of buxton also,

I probably also have Joe Nathan. Maybe even folks like Cuddyer. WAR is a nice marker to start the conversation, but playing games, especially meaningful ones, is pretty important. 

[Permanent Twins Fan]

On 2/27/2026 at 4:13 PM, Bodie said:

Throw in Wallner or Larnach and the sky is the limit on on the return...

Probably two lefty relievers and Mickey Gaspar

[Greglw3]

On 2/27/2026 at 2:24 PM, KnoblauchWasFramed said:

Byron Buxton in 11 seasons with the Twins - 2 All Star Games - I Gold/Platinum Glove - 2 seasons with over 100 total hits but 5 seasons with over 100 strike outs - 2 seasons over 20 stolen bases - 1 season with a WAR over 5.0 - 3 seasons with over 100 games played - 7 official playoff at bats - 1 season with 30 home runs.

That is all.

The All Star nods tell a different story with Buxton having 2 and Rod Carew having appeared in 19 consecutive All Star Games.

I don’t like the WAR stat, very flawed, IMO and in Bill James opinion but I guess you gotta use something when comparing players of different positions, eras and the type of role they played on a team.

Another player I would rank ahead of Buxton by age 31 is Gary Gaetti.

Another in Buxton’s league would be Dean Chance who had just a 7 year period of greatness but only 3 with the Twins. In 1964 with Angels he was 20-9 with a 1.65 ERA and 11 shutouts! 

With the Twins in 1967, just 19 days apart, he first threw a 5 inning rain-shortened perfect game, then 19 days later threw a complete game no-hitter.

Also, Jim Perry. I think his body of work is clearly more notable than Buxton’s but as the author points out, Buxton could close the gap with a run of great seasons, probably not likely but very possible.

Radke doesn’t truly belong in any discussion with Blyleven, Kaat, Dean Chance, Jim Perry, Joe Nathan or even Dave Goltz.

One last player that had the same level of talent as Buxton but also has to be put in the "what might have been" category is Lyman Bostock.

I consider him one of the greatest hitters to ever wear a Twins uniform but unfortunately, first Calvin Griffith let him go to the Angels for about 500k a year.

Thus taking him out of the hitting environment that he enjoyed at Met Stadium. And, of course, tragically he was murdered, mistakenly, as a young man.

I really feel he was a Hall of Fame caliber hitter and would have won a batting title in 1977 with his .336 average with lots of pop but his own teammate beat him out by 52 points, the quintessential Twins single season Twins achievement, when Carew hit .388 and won the MVP award on a 4th place team in a 7 team division.

Buxton is probably, as it stands, one of the 20 greatest players in Twins history and could climb higher but I don’t see him ever being in the category of Carew, Killebrew, Mauer, Oliva, Puckett, Kaat, Nathan, Jim Perry, Chance. He could hopefully be the equal of Gaetti and Lyman Bostock with more seasons last year.

In any case, let’s enjoy his hopefully good years to come and thrill to the Buck truck pull, the fire and passion of a great athlete!!!

 

 

[arby58]

On 3/1/2026 at 2:29 AM, Greglw3 said:

Buxton is probably, as it stands, one of the 20 greatest players in Twins history and could climb higher but I don’t see him ever being in the category of Carew, Killebrew, Mauer, Oliva, Puckett, Kaat, Nathan, Jim Perry, Chance. He could hopefully be the equal of Gaetti and Lyman Bostock with more seasons last year.

This is about a player's time with the Twins - Dean Chance was only a Twin for three years. He doesn't belong in this discussion, other than his 2 no-hitters, which isn't really a statistic of much value in terms of pitching greatness (Greg Maddux being exhibit A). 

[nicksaviking]

As a late Gen X kid who grew up constantly being told by the previous generation that my 80's-90's music, TV, movies, books and athletes all stunk and paled in comparison to THEIR music, TV, movies, books and athletes, I feel pretty immune to defensive posturing about these kinds of lists.

Go, Buck, go. Hope you keep climbing that list. No sacred idols for me.

[RpR]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

As a late Gen X kid who grew up constantly being told by the previous generation that my 80's-90's music, TV, movies, books and athletes all stunk and paled in comparison to THEIR music, TV, movies, books and athletes, I feel pretty immune to defensive posturing about these kinds of lists.

Go, Buck, go. Hope you keep climbing that list. No sacred idols for me.

As a child of the Fifties, I can tell you that music from the 80s was still good but it seemed that in the mid 90s it started to lose its soul.

TV, Movies, Books, Athletes, I did not see any real difference.

[Greglw3]

4 hours ago, arby58 said:

This is about a player's time with the Twins - Dean Chance was only a Twin for three years. He doesn't belong in this discussion, other than his 2 no-hitters, which isn't really a statistic of much value in terms of pitching greatness (Greg Maddux being exhibit A). 

 

4 hours ago, arby58 said:

This is about a player's time with the Twins - Dean Chance was only a Twin for three years. He doesn't belong in this discussion, other than his 2 no-hitters, which isn't really a statistic of much value in terms of pitching greatness (Greg Maddux being exhibit A). 

Chance was a great pitcher, 1.65 ERA is a bit historic, and did some great things with the Twins. Do we have to throw away Rod Carew’s 7 seasons with the Angels? Though Buxtons been a Twin, how many high quality full seasons has he really played. I’m just trying to give my take on the question from a full historic point of view. I left out Tovar and Zolio Versalles because of their meteoric Twins careers. I should have mentioned Hrbek as well. Let’s see how he does, I’m all for Buxton, Jenkins, Rodriguez and Gonzalez dominating for several years.

[arby58]

1 hour ago, Greglw3 said:

 

Chance was a great pitcher, 1.65 ERA is a bit historic, and did some great things with the Twins. Do we have to throw away Rod Carew’s 7 seasons with the Angels? Though Buxtons been a Twin, how many high quality full seasons has he really played. I’m just trying to give my take on the question from a full historic point of view. I left out Tovar and Zolio Versalles because of their meteoric Twins careers. I should have mentioned Hrbek as well. Let’s see how he does, I’m all for Buxton, Jenkins, Rodriguez and Gonzalez dominating for several years.

If you read the article, the author only includes games played as a Minnesota Twin, so the answer is 'yes' to not including Rod Carew's 7 seasons with the Angels. It would be silly to include stats from other teams - if you are going to include them, Steve Carlton definitely belongs on this list.

Chance played three years with the Twins, and the year of the 1.65 ERA was with the Angels, not the Twins.