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For as long as he's been a big-leaguer, Byron Buxton has been one of the best center fielders in baseball. Truthfully, he was probably one of the best in baseball long before he was a big-leaguer; his offensive issues and injury trouble just slowed him down. In the only thing anywhere near a full season he's ever played (2017), Buxton was worth 23 Defensive Runs Saved, according to Sports Info Solutions. From 2018-22, though he was only healthy enough to play the field in 269 games, he posted 43 DRS. We throw around the word 'elite' too lightly, these days, but that's truly the echelon on which Buxton's defense belonged for years.
Alas, that might be starting to change. After being confined to DH duty in 2023, Buxton was able to return to center in 2024, and he stayed relatively healthy. In 94 games, however, he was only worth 2 DRS—and digging deeper into the numbers reveals some systematic weaknesses.
Source: The Fielding Bible
Notice the extreme degradation of Buxton's performance on deep balls. Buxton was 38 plays better than an average center fielder on such batted balls from 2015-22, but when he came back last year, he didn't come all the way back. Suddenly, he was below-average when the ball was hit over his head.
Now 31 years old, Buxton has clearly lost a step—not in terms of top speed, but in the rapidity with which he can reach it. At times (and not unreasonably), it looked like Buxton was also thinking about self-preservation on balls hit back to the warning track or the wall. On a trio of balls hit deep to the gaps in unfamiliar NL West parks last summer, Buxton tried to make plays with a smoother attack and a bit of deceleration near the wall, and he couldn't come up with the ball.
You'd rather have Buxton not catch that ball (but hit the wall less hard, as he did) than risk the types of injuries (hip, shoulder, head, neck) he's suffered going just a bit faster and making such plays in the past. Still, it's jarring to see him not make plays like these.
Again, the difference between what he did here and what he would have done in the past is subtle, but it's crucial—in two ways. Going a bit harder into the barrier is a good way to get banged-up, or worse. However, it's also the best way to catch balls like these, as Buxton spent the first half-decade of his career proving. Without his fearlessness, he's a bit like a falcon with a clipped wing.
These were all examples drawn from parks where Buxton hasn't played much, though. Going back to the wall in such situations is always a bit of a nervous endeavor, and these few plays might be accounting for most of the difference you see above, in his numbers on deep balls.
Unfortunately, there's a related but separate issue about which we also have to talk, looking at things through a different lens and orienting his pursuit of the ball differently.
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