Byron Buxton Recalled

"Regardless of his offensive contributions, he bring an immediate upgrade defensively to the Twins lineup, as his play and range in center field was solid even during his offensive struggles. "

No.  Cheap excuse for his lack of hitting in the MLB. D. Santana may have some issues defensively, but not completely horrible.  A .260 BA is palatable for a guy predicted to be in the "super-sub" catagory.

Issues:

1. MiLB numbers, Fantastic!  SSS, 29 Games, 116 AB's. 
2. Buxton's perchance for injuries is a big issue.  ++AB's in the MiLB are needed to determine if he will be durable enough for the Twins needs.
3. I also believe it's a "comfort thing" for Buxton:  a "self inflicted pressure" thing.  A recent article on the MiLB.com drew some attention to this. 

I'm actually surprised they haven't been searching for another Grossman/Mastroianni-type to fill in.

Left out 4.  I really, really hope I'm wrong and Buxton stays healthy and he's learned his lessons in MiLB and translates it to MLB success!!

Two points. I can't say I follow other teams moves, so maybe this is more widespread than I know. That said, almost all Twins moves are reactionary. Barring an injury, it's very difficult to lose your job once you get ensconced as a regular. Also, in a perfect world Buxton could have easily used another month in Rochester. But the Twins perfect world evaporated with decisions made late in 2015. The Twins are so far past painting themselves in a corner, they are now standing on the top of the paint can, while needing to go to the bathroom. Btw, hit Buxton nine, reducing the pressure for now is more important than more AB's, or a Twins win!

Like it or not, the starting CF is hurt and I think there would be a lot more consternation of Maestro spent every day of those 2 weeks manning CF.  I'll believe it's more of the same if Buxton is doing poorly and not immediately sent down when Santana comes off the DL.  There is no harm in a 2 week cup of coffee, especially if he's playing every day.

We are going to have to respecfully disagree. Would there be a few posts about not calling up red hot Buxton from AAA? Sure. Opinions vary. But it seems like the prevailing opinion here is Buxton should have at least two more weeks in AAA. Some more like a month. And a few think all year.

The season is over. I think you keep a guy like Mastro around for this exact reason. A place holder. You have an injury, you aren't competitive, and your prospect is not quite ready

Still don't see how mashing away at AAA is gonna help him figure out how to hit major league pitching.

I don't like this move.  I think he was really getting into a groove, gaining confidence and from what I have heard beginning to understand a breaking ball.  I am in the camp that he should have stayed in AAA longer so these things he has learned became 2nd nature to him and he didn't have to think at the plate.  If he comes up and looks the same do they send him down again or do they keep him up just because?

I am hoping the Twins have told him this is a 15 DL fill-in and they know he isn't quite 100% ready for the big leagues.  Once Santana is ready they are going to send him back to AAA for little while longer to finish up his fine tuning, then the NEXT TIME he is called up will be for good.

Hopefully this will take any self-induced pressure he seems to put on himself and he can just go play baseball.  Then if he tears the cover off the ball maybe he forces the Twins into making a decision of keeping him up or sending down still.

The problem here isn't that the Twins have called up Buxton -- he's dominating AAA now and if he hadn't had his two appearances in the majors people would have been screaming for his promotion. 

The problem is the way the Twins handled him up until now. They called him up too early last year. They handed him the CF job after trading Aaron Hicks (and not Trevor Plouffe). The whole thing has been an ugly mess. 

Hopefully, he gets it and plays well enough to stay. That's what I'm going to hope for. I'm not going to count on Buxton having a .900 OPS. But I will be thrilled if he can hit .250 with a few doubles and triples and stolen bases, but with world caliber defense and a style of play that makes the Twins more exciting. 

I'm in the camp where more time in AAA would be best. However, he's needed now so the hand is forced. However, as another pointed out, let him know they're pleased with his progress and this is just a temporary move, don't give up your apartment in Rochester. 

If Buxton hits, it's all a non-issue, correct?   Between the injuries and non-hitting, I don't fault management a lot. 

The problem is not whether or not he hits. The problem is how they treat their prospects. The problem is the process, not the result. By rushing contact challenged hitters through the upper minors they are not putting them in a position to succeed.

Buxton has been really hitting the snot out of the baseballs down in AAA. Plus he's cutting down his K%, while increasing his BB% on a week-to-week basis. Looks from here like he is making the correct adjustments.

The problem is that 137 PAs is an awfully short time in AAA- likely too short to become ingrained in his muscle memory. I just hope that bringing him up so quickly isn't going to undo all that he has learned.

Buxton has been really hitting the snot out of the baseballs down in AAA. Plus he's cutting down his K%, while increasing his BB% on a week-to-week basis. Looks from here like he is making the correct adjustments.

 

The problem is that 137 PAs is an awfully short time in AAA- likely too short to become ingrained in his muscle memory. I just hope that bringing him up so quickly isn't going to undo all that he has learned.

That is my exact concern.  The ability is there, he needs it to just stick.  If he struggles and starts to press and reverts back to what he was doing before he will need to go back down and start from scratch again.  Basically wasting month and a half of very good development progress. 

seems like a textbook case of damned if you do, damned if you don't ...

Reading these pages the last several years there is a pretty clear consensus.     Twins are the slowest team in the majors to promote their top prospects to the big leagues.    They should promote their young stars and let them learn at the big league level.   The top prospects they do promote, they promote too soon and for the wrong reasons. and hinder their development by letting them fail at the big league level.

Personally, I am ok with this move since I didn't really want him sent down in the first place.      

I think the Twins promote too slowly in the lower Minors A to A+ and A+ to AA allowing them to dominate lesser talents.  Once they get to AA though the Twins seem to zip them to the majors without getting the experience of playing against other more developed minor leaguers who are more in line with the talent level of those players.  They then have to learn at the majors and develop some bad habits trying to keep up with established Major League Pitchers/Hitters.  If they would move them quickly through the lower minors and slow them down a bit in AA and AAA I think the jump to MLB wouldn't be as jarring as it has been for many of the Twins prospects lately.  Just my opinion. 

 

 

It is also interesting that the Twins didn't recall Eddie Rosario. After a slow start in Rochester, he's been hitting better than Buxton. Interestingly, when Buxton left the Rochester game early yesterday (presumably to catch a plane to the west coast), Rosario moved from left to right field while Max Kepler took over center. Do the Twins not consider Rosario a center fielder at all?

I don't believe that ER has taken even a single walk since being sent down. You'd think that that'd be very pushed for or forced area of focus with him down there. His OBP is still deplorable and is completely reliant on his batting average, which is often reliant on luck too.