Can Byron Buxton Actually Get Healthy?

Coming into the 2022 Major League Baseball season the Minnesota Twins signed Byron Buxton to a seven-year extension worth $100 million. That was a worthwhile gamble because of how talented he is while on the field. It was only $100 million because of how inconsistently he remains on the field.

Last year, fans saw Buxton go down in a heap running the bases against the Boston Red Sox. He played through knee pain routinely dealing with knee drains, and ultimately underwent offseason surgery. At this point, it’s worth wondering if that surgery actually did anything to help, and when or if he’ll ever actually be healthy again.

Sure, the Twins had Buxton on opening day this season, but he couldn’t actually play the field. He was a boat anchor at the designated hitter spot, and after a torrid start, his slumping bat truly became a problem. Offering nothing defensively, and even with Michael A. Taylor putting up career numbers as a regular, Buxton being on dimensional was holding the Twins back.

With a focus towards the postseason, Minnesota put Buxton on the injured list with a hamstring issue. He spent multiple weeks rehabbing the injury, and then it was announced that this was the ideal time to build him back up. Despite having an entire offseason to recover and prepare for the season ahead, directly following hamstring issues was when the club wanted to work him back into the outfield.

Obviously, part of the equation is that the Twins now have alternatives to Buxton in the lineup. Rocco Baldelli can’t afford to sacrifice a consistent roster spot on a slumping bat while Edouard Julien, Royce Lewis, and Matt Wallner all make infinitely more sense to cycle through it. That all adds up to the reality that if Buxton wants to play, he can’t be a part-time asset.

After playing just seven innings as a centerfielder for St. Paul on a Triple-A rehab assignment, Buxton experienced a setback. Soreness in his knee, which probably is to be expected given how little he has done with it over the past handful of months, reared its head and took him out of the lineup.

Buxton has spent multiple days now out of the St. Paul lineup, and wondering when or if he’ll rejoin the Twins is a genuine question. We have seen the talented outfielder spend months on the active roster without having the ability to build back up. We have seen him spend time on the injured list despite being used solely as a designated hitter so he can stay healthy. Now we have seen him try to work his way back, only to again end up shelved.

Minnesota, and Buxton for that matter, haven’t talked much about what exactly is going on with his knee. The surgery to fix whatever took place last season wasn’t exactly defined, and why the timeline for health has been so substantial makes very little sense. No matter what is being tried, it seems as though the Twins outfielder has a body unwilling to cooperate.

At some point it would be great for Baldelli to pencil Buxton in with a number “8” next to his name on the lineup card. How long it has taken for that to happen, and that we appear to be no closer to a return, are concerning for plenty of reasons. Now officially pulled off of his rehab assignment, it seems even less likely he can work his way back in any capacity.

The Twins knew what they were getting into with Buxton, and again, that’s why the deal was where it came in at. It’s one thing for a player to be injury prone, but Buxton bordering on never truly being healthy is something entirely different. All parties involved want to figure this out, but that doesn’t make it any less mind-boggling that they seemingly can’t.