Byron Buxton is Worth It

I get the impression that they don't want him playing outfield until the weather heats up. Probably a good idea. Hopefully by early to mid May he can get out in the field more.

I get what the Twins are doing and I'm on board with it.  I'd still like to give him the green light to steal to get closer to his full potential offensively.  

Why not have buxton our dh?? We need him healthy and bat in lineup! He can play center field 20-30 games but otherwise make him out full time dh

Sorry but I completely disagree. 

Buxton's average season line sits at .244 12 32

Yep, a .244 batting average, 12 homeruns and 32(!) RBIs per season.  A pretty pathetic output for any position, let alone for a DH.  These aren't numbers picked from his poorest/ most injury plagued seasons  but career averages (now covering 8 seasons).

He now seldom steals bases, and I don't see that changing (nor do many close observers) taking away one of his two best demonstrated skills.  If he isn't regularly playing elite CF defense (his other demonstrated skill), he simply isn't isn't the guy that all Twins fans want to see and the Twins need to be competitive. 

There is an old saying about _____ on my leg and telling me it is raining.

I really want to see it rain, but his history has shown that we're much more likely to end up with a fetid yellow puddle than than anything else.

Here is to hoping that he is up for 140 games (most in CF) looking like one of the best all-around players in the game.  I just won't hold my breath...

Your article, like Byron Buxton himself, is a complete overstatement.  He should hire you as his public relations manager.  All these accolades for a player whose only played one full season going on 8 years.  How anyone can say how great he is based on such little information and stats is astounding.  Buxton has been an enigma of sorts.  People like you tell us how great he is yet we don't see enough of him to make such comments.  His career stats aren't all that impressive.  I really hoped he plays some full seasons so we can see one way or another if he is as good as people say.  To me I don't see it except maybe a few weeks out of the year.  If he plays a full year and is great as you say he should have an MVP year.  I really hope so because then the Twins would be a world series contender.  So far the career of Buxton has been a huge disappointment.

Weird.  Every time I have tuned in to watch the Twins this spring, I think I've seen Buxton strike out 4 times and hit a weak infield ground out.  I know it's early, but let's hope this isn't foreshadowing of another ho-hum, injury riddled season for him.

Just my 2 cents. I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I'm in the camp that thinks that we're babying him just a little too much. I don't see why he's not out there in CF a few games during ST. If he can DH/bat, and run the bases, he can play the outfield. He could get a HBP and be out the whole season too. He got hurt last year sliding into 2nd base, not out in CF.  Is he injury prone? Yep. He's sure proven that. I'd be willing to  bet he comes up with something again this year that causes him to miss time. I don't think that's going to change. It can happen to anyone. Buxton should take some turns at DH...AND...play the field.  

The key may well be whether Michael Taylor's bat produces more than whoever else may have been the DH.  Even though the guys we rotated thru the DH spot last year, in the aggregate, posted numbers worthy of hitting in the top half of the lineup, last I checked Nelson Cruz is now Joe Ryan and Jim Thome is old.  Real old.

I find it ironic that the Twins have decided they can't let him play in CF becasue they don't want to lose his offense. Yet they keep and allow Kepler to play mainly for his defense, (because he has become really bad offensively), and they go out and get one of the worst hitters from 2022, Joey Gallo to add to their outfield, which means again they only acquired him for his defense, and they got Taylor who is right-handed, same as Buxton, so a platoon with him doesn't make sense, and again a defense-first type player. But Buxton, who is probably the premier defensive player in all of baseball is not going to be used for defensive purposes, even though he too has become in your own words, "an all or nothing hitter." Based on his past performance I would say the only value that Buxton provides over other outfielders that can hit for decent average and some power is his defense, but the Twins have chosen to throw that value down the toilet in the hopes he doesn't get plunked by a pitch or hurt a knee running the bases. (His last 2 injuries were not from playing defense).

Playing the OF hasn’t worked in the past even though he hasn’t been injured in the field the last few years. The Twins picked up Taylor to try something new and I applaud them for thinking out of the box.

Also, if he focuses on hitting only, that is close to what he is being compensated for because with fielding and stealing he’d be a 30mm player.

I have enjoyed all the comments.  We tried to protect Buxton last year - it did not work.  Play him until he is injured then figure things out.  As a DH he is not a superstar.  Take away his fielding and he is good, not great.  I can seem sitting him on bad weather days, but let's not sit him on a sunny and warm day no matter the strategy.  

Just wait---Buxton will struggle at the plate early on this year, and people will blame it on the fact he's not playing in the field, and can't really "get into the game".  (and that's why he's struggling)

You say Buxton is projected to be the Twins best hitter this year. Sad to say, you may be right. Only because the lineup is so weak.

For all the love Buxton gets from the Twins you'd think he is a sure fire hall of famer. I don't get it. He tries hard. He plays hard. His teammates like him. When he connects the ball goes a long way. But, bottom line, results are just average. He'll never win a batting championship or even come close. Home run champion? No. RBI? No. Silver Slugger? No. Gold Glove? Yes. Can he carry this team to a championship? No. 

On many teams Buxton would bat in the bottom portion of the lineup, which is where he belongs. Nineth, actually. That way, if he does get on base, you've got his speed in front of the best hitters. At any rate, he should not bat 1-4, at least not unless he picks up his bat to ball skills.

If Buxton is truly our best hitter, then I'm looking for a third place finish, or worse. Sorry fans, that's just my opinion. And I hope I'm wrong.

The Twins need a player with power like Cruz was at DH.  Isn’t the premise of a DH to be able to come up to bat with players base and hit a home run?   I think Byron has “okay” numbers to bat 1-3 but even that is iffy.  Much of his value is to prevent opposing teams from scoring, right?   I love Buxton and hope he can become what we all expect.  But it is super frustrating almost painful to watch this year after year!  Last time I looked he had a 1.25 BA with a handful of at bats.  

Buxton is only elite in the field based on paper at this time.  We locked him in on a favorable contract to DH and play what 50 games in the OF if he gets the whole spring off to make sure he is warmed up enough to play in the field.  Makes me laugh.  He isn't elite if he isn't playing in the field.  He is a below avg DH at this time.  Stats tell us so based on his career.  He has played over 100 games in a season, once in his career.  Let's read that again, once in his career.  He has avg 73 games per year or 45% of game action.  Granted, 1st year is into year to his career and the Covid year, but the numbers don't put him in elite status.  

Buxton and only Buxton can change this narrative of perception of elite vs reality of elite

If I sent 100 people a baseball reference snapshot of Buxton's numbers (name redacted), I think the number of people jumping at the chance to add this unnamed player to their roster would be close to zero. It'll be interesting to see if a player going into his age-30 season can finally punch the clock full time in 2023.

IF this is the opening day line-up, I guess I'm OK with it. I don't like Buxton as the DH, and neither does he, but I would assume by making this announcement 2 weeks before opening day he can be better prepared to handle not playing defense.

 C - Vazquez

1B - Gallo

2B - Gordon

3B - Miranda

SS - Correa

LF - Larnach

CF - Taylor

RF - Kepler

DH - Buxton

Bench - Jeffers, Farmer, Solano and Castro

If Julien starts hot at AAA I would expect to see him with the big club to take over the DH role, and Castro optioned (FanGraphs shows that he has an option left). The club may choose to activate Polanco though, forcing Julien to wait for the next injury. Polanco at DH is an option I can live with, but that can  be discussed in a different thread...

The Twins are taking somewhat of a gamble this year with their outfield.

Max Kepler is a terrific right fielder and base runner but has had his problems with the bat. It makes sense to hope that Max can recover and find his bat.

The signing of Joey Gallo in hopes that he can rediscover his swing is pretty much roulette. Gallo is a good defender and base runner as well but his inability to get his bat on the ball is concerning, particularly in light of the other swings and misses in the lineup. The Gallo experiment will be really interesting to watch. Obviously, he stays if he hits, but how long do the Twins go with a guy if he is hitting well under .200?

The addition of Michael A. Taylor was a strong move to bolster the depth of the outfield defense. Taylor is a good ballplayer and great defensive center fielder. It will be a little troubling if he is a consistent starter.

Then there is Byron Buxton. It is irrefutable that Buck is a very dynamic player. It makes sense to ease Byron into the season during the first weeks of April. What is troubling is that some of Buxton's skills most valued are being reduced, such as centerfield play and running the bases. More concerning to me, over time, is the shift from Buxton as someone who drives the ball to a player with a severe upper cut swing that has brought increasingly high strike out rates along with prodigious home runs. Byron is a threat any time he approaches the plate, but the numbers over a season are noteworthy. Buxton's average numbers for his career are not very good for a player who is seen as the centerpiece of the Twins team. Hopefully, we see a full year of Byron Buxton and it is a sound strategy by the Twins to ease him into the year. 

The Twins do have some other decent emerging players that actually could be in the outfield as soon as mid summer. Trevor Larnach, Nick Gordon, Royce Lewis, and Matt Wallner all have varying skills. Thus, it is fair to give the Twins current strategy some time to see how successful their outfield is in contributing to wins in the first two months of the season. Certainly the defense should be excellent out on the outfield grass.  Yet, it should also be seen as a bit of a gamble that could force a turn in personnel in season.

Wouldn't it just be pleasant if Buxton played 100 games in center field and another 30-40 at DH for a few years straight so we don't need to have these types of discussions. Dare to dream. 

Good article.

As was pointed out Buxton's career has changed quite a bit over time so quoting career numbers as if they tell you a lot about the player Buxton is today is misleading. If you look at his last three seasons you get a much better picture of what type of player he is today. 

2020 - .254 .267 .577 - .884 OPS - 130 AB's - 13 HR's

2021 - .306 .358 .647 - 1.005 OPS - 235 AB's - 19 HR's

2022 - .224 .306 ..526 - .832 OPS - 340 AB's 28 HR's

3 seasons - 705 AB's - 60 HR's - The Twins are trying to continue the trend of increasing his AB's like he did from 2021 to 2022. If he gets an additional 100 AB's in 2023 he may hit 35+ HR's while OPSing over .800.

He can still step into CF & play GG defense & has speed on the bases even if he doesn't use it to steal bases (with the rule changes maybe we get more aggressive stealing bases in '23).

The Twins need his offensive production in the lineup as much as possible. As valuable as he is defensively, on this current roster his offensive production is far more important to this teams success than his defense. This year for better or worse our roster is constructed differently. We have a number of good, great & even Gold glove OF's on the roster. I've voiced concerns with the offensive production of the starting nine as it stands multiple times (making Buxton's production even more important).

Buxton is the primary DH to start the year. It doesn't mean he won't play in CF at any point. The team is built so we have flexibility there so we can use him at DH periodically to limit how often he plays CF while still having his offensive production in the lineup on a regular basis.  

1 hour ago, Tovar12 said:

Just wait---Buxton will struggle at the plate early on this year, and people will blame it on the fact he's not playing in the field, and can't really "get into the game".  (and that's why he's struggling)

i am wondering and do not know the answer, but what is Buxton's hitting record as a DH? I know I have read that he does not like to DH and there are plenty of guys who do not preform as well when batting as the DH.

So this is the strategy. We used up a roster spot to replace the best defender with the second best defender, so the best defender doesn't have to defend, so the best defender can get injured running the bases instead of chasing a fly ball and the second best defender becomes the first best defender.

IMO Buxton has improved his hitting every year since '19. When Buxton is healthy his hitting has become sensational and when he plays hurt his hitting takes a dive. Therefore his seasonal avg. isn't that great. IMO the plan is to increase his healthy days & hopefully eliminate him playing hurt, dramatically increasing his seasonal avg.. The danger of injury while running the bases when he plays at DH still exists but it eliminates the danger of injury in CF. That reduces his risk by 1/2.

Taylor playing in CF makes it easier to see Buxton at DH. Plus the change of scenery IMO could unlock another gear in Taylor's hitting.

If they save Buxton from the cold, stop playing him hurt and conserving him, so that he'd be 100%, playing CF in Sept & Oct., it'd be worth it. Having Buck in CF, Taylor in LF & Kepler in RF, that'd be a WS OF

1 hour ago, MGX said:

Good article.

As was pointed out Buxton's career has changed quite a bit over time so quoting career numbers as if they tell you a lot about the player Buxton is today is misleading. If you look at his last three seasons you get a much better picture of what type of player he is today. 

2020 - .254 .267 .577 - .884 OPS - 130 AB's - 13 HR's

2021 - .306 .358 .647 - 1.005 OPS - 235 AB's - 19 HR's

2022 - .224 .306 ..526 - .832 OPS - 340 AB's 28 HR's

3 seasons - 705 AB's - 60 HR's - The Twins are trying to continue the trend of increasing his AB's like he did from 2021 to 2022. If he gets an additional 100 AB's in 2023 he may hit 35+ HR's while OPSing over .800.

He can still step into CF & play GG defense & has speed on the bases even if he doesn't use it to steal bases (with the rule changes maybe we get more aggressive stealing bases in '23).

The Twins need his offensive production in the lineup as much as possible. As valuable as he is defensively, on this current roster his offensive production is far more important to this teams success that his defense. This year for better or worse our roster is constructed differently. We have a number of good, great & even Gold glove OF's on the roster. I've voiced concerns with the offensive production of the starting nine as it stands multiple times (making Buxton's production even more important).

Buxton is the primary DH to start the year. It doesn't mean he won't play in CF at any point. The team is built so we have flexibility there so we can use him at DH periodically to limit how often he plays CF while still having his offensive production in the lineup on a regular basis.  

I think you nailed it. Here's his stats for the last four years: 

On a per-162 basis, those are great numbers from a full-time DH.

We recognize he's not going to play 162, however. But rather than considering that he averaged 70 games per year in this time period, a better average is about 83 games, given that it's only 3.37 seasons because of COVID.  

After 92 games last season, start the year with a pattern that shoots for 108 games this year (two of every three games). Start with the pattern of a full-time DH, gradually into CF as health allows.