Byron Buxton crashed into a wall trying to make a catch on Friday night, and Minnesota Twins fans braced for impact.
Buxton hurt his shoulder making a leaping grab against the wall during Friday’s game and eventually exited for a pinch-hitter. The official update from the team is vague, but anyone who has watched Buxton’s career knows what that means. The injury list is about to get another long stay.
The frustration here is not Buxton’s fault. He plays the game hard. He puts his body on the line in center field. He has been doing that since he came up as a top prospect over a decade ago. The problem is that Buxton’s body cannot handle the way he plays, and the Twins have been chasing his upside for his entire career.
Buxton has played in only one full season since 2017. He has dealt with hamstring problems, knee injuries, hip surgery, concussion symptoms, and now another shoulder issue. The list of body parts that have taken him off the field is longer than most players’ careers.
The Twins paid Buxton a seven-year, $100 million extension in 2021 betting that they could manage his workload to keep him healthier. They have used him as a DH for stretches. They have rested him in day games. They have done everything in their power to keep him on the field, and his body keeps breaking down anyway.
This is a real tragedy of the game. When Buxton is healthy, he is one of the most exciting players in baseball. He has elite power, elite speed, and elite defense in center. Five-tool players who can do all that at the same time come along once a generation. The 2017 version of Buxton was an MVP-caliber player. He just cannot stay healthy enough to maintain it.
The Twins have been hovering around .500 this season, which puts them in the wild card mix in a weaker American League Central. They need Buxton in the lineup to make any kind of run. Without him, the offense falls apart fast. The team’s expected production gets cut in half when he is not on the field.
Derek Falvey and the front office have a familiar decision to make at the trade deadline. The team is good enough to buy if they think they can compete, but Buxton’s status changes the math completely. A team built around a player who plays 70 games a year cannot meaningfully add to the payroll without knowing if their best hitter is going to be there in September.
The Twins’ farm system is not deep enough to make a major splash anyway. They have a couple of pitching prospects worth talking about. They have a few high-floor position players. But they do not have the kind of trade chips that turn a wild card team into a playoff threat without giving away the future.
The smarter move might be to sell, but selling is hard when the team is good enough to win. Sonny Gray is pitching well. Pablo Lopez has been steady. The bullpen has been better than expected. There is a real season here if Buxton can stay healthy, and there is no real season here if he cannot.
Twins fans have been doing this dance for years. Every spring, the talking heads say Buxton looks ready. Every summer, Buxton gets hurt. Every fall, the team is left to figure out what could have been.
The shoulder will probably end up being a couple of weeks. The hope is that this is the manageable kind of injury rather than the season-ending kind. With Buxton, you never know which one you are getting.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
