The Twins enter Spring Training in 2024 with the core of a team that won a playoff series for the first time in 21 years. But if there's one real wildcard hanging out there, one thing that could make all the difference for a team hoping to build on an AL Central title and some limited playoff success, it's Byron Buxton.
Supremely talented. Gold Glove caliber in centerfield. Hits with power. Has speed to burn and then some.
But Buxton hasn't been healthy. Really, over his entire career. They have had to pull him off the field and put him as a DH just to try and keep his bat in the lineup. In 2023, that wasn't enough to keep him off the disabled list which is where he ended the season after a knee injury.
The Twins know when he plays, especially in center, they're a much better team and as of February, 2024, that is the plan.
"I feel good. It's great to be healthy, I will say that," Buxton tells WCCO's Jason DeRusha. "When I sit back and realize how healthy I am now compared to the last two years, it's a dramatic difference."
Buxton tried to play through the pain. He knew in July his knee was in bad shape.
"Every day was a struggle," he explains. "Coming down the stairs, walking up the stairs, you know how hard it was to go up those steps to go to the batting deck? That's mental. That's how bad I wanted to play. I didn't care how much pain I was in."
Buxton eventually had knee surgery following the loss to Houston in the American League Division Series. He hung on to the hope he'd get just healthy enough to play in the postseason. That hope turned into one, solitary at-bat in the game four loss to the Astros. The Twins added him to the roster despite him not playing since going on the DL August 1.
It came with a thunderous, standing ovation from a fanbase desperate to see Buxton play again. His "Kirk Gibson moment" never materialized after he popped out to first. But for Buxton, it was energizing and again proof of how much the franchise, and especially his teammates, believe in his ability.
"After that at-bat, they were high-fiving," Buxton explained. "Even though I got out, that moment for me, they just loved that I was able to get out there. Just them sticking behind me, even though I shouldn't have been in that position. For them to trust me, that's something special. For me, my family, my fans, that moment is one of the best moments of my career."
Following knee surgery, Buxton and the Twins staff believes he is as healthy as he's been in years. Buxton told DeRusha he feels free again.
"It's different. When you don't gotta worry about injuries or protecting your body you can go out there and be yourself and have a lot more fun doing it," he says from his locker in Fort Myers. "So for me, it's been being as normal as I possibly can."
Are there nerves or fear for Buxton, after so many injuries and time away from the game? He says there is, but he knows this is just the start of it.
"When the real games start that's when the real nerves and fear kick in," Buxton said. "But, just getting out there today fielding ground balls, fly balls, that little catch I made on Santana, that's fun, you know? There's no pressure in this today. It's just you going out there, getting your feet under you, basically just enjoying it."
The injuries and mental hurdles that come with that have put baseball in perspective for Buxton who says at this point, he just wants to play and have fun.
"Baseball doesn't last forever. Enjoy every day, especially after missing the last two years, not being able to go, experience the talks in the outfield or the drills that we do. Just those little things make me happy now. It put it into perspective. When I was younger I was like, 'why we doing these drills? I know how to catch a ball. I know how to do this.' Now it's like, 'let's do this!' Because I haven't done it in two years. So for me it put it into perspective, those things you don't have."
There's no question that the Twins want Buxton in centerfield as much as he can be out there and be healthy. He's perhaps the best defensive outfielder in the game, making the incredible look routine. Measuring a healthy Buxton in centerfield using WAR (wins-above-replacement) shows he's not just valuable but at a level that puts him at the top in all of baseball and then some.
When healthy and in the field in 2020-2022, he put up WAR numbers only matched by Babe Ruth, Rogers Hornsby and Carl Yastrzemski. Seriously.
The issue isn't his production when healthy. It's staying on the field. He's never come close to a full 162-game season.
It is much more than at-bats these days for Buxton too. His attention to detail on how he plays centerfield is as much fun as taking batting practice.
"A lot of reps, ground balls, for me I do a lot of glove work stuff, like one-hoppers because it can hit and slide off to the left, or slide off to the right depending on how the grass is, how the grass is cut," he explains. "There's so much that goes into just a ground ball. Our field don't snake, but I know if I go to Anaheim, their field when you hit a ground ball snakes in the grass. It moves, so if you pick your head up, you're gonna miss this ground ball."
Another place he's putting in a lot of work this spring is on the base paths. Buxton is fast. Like Olympic sprinter fast. Yet those injuries, or just concern he'll get hurt again, has kept him pretty conservative with his baserunning, and he says that is a spot he wants to do more this year.
"I kind of want to utilize my speed a little bit more, to be better," says Buxton. "I haven't stolen a lot of bases the last few years. So for me, getting on base and stealing bases, putting us in a better position, scoring more runs, whatever the situation is, that's what I'm trying to do. (Willi) Castro last year, seeing him run crazy. I'm like I want to do that, I want to do some of that. But I didn't have the ability to do that. I couldn't do half the stuff he did last year in order to be able to see a base. For me, I'm itching. Put me on a bag and let me steal a base."
Across the Twins roster, players know how important Buxton can be to the team's success and they continue to show him the support he needs to get back on the field.
"For me, those guys kept me going. Every day I walk in, it's like 'how you feeling today?' We want you feeling good enough to get in a game. We understand. It was more myself, why isn't this feeling right? Why can't I do this? Those questions I can't answer. It's me fighting myself last year why they was picking me up."
For Buxton, he wants 2024 to be the year he returns the favor.