With baseball possibly nearing a return, we take a look at the upcoming season for the Minnesota Twins players, continuing with Byron Buxton.
Several Minnesota Twins players had career seasons in 2019, so we wanted to take a look ahead for what those player’s seasons might look like in 2020. We took a look at Nelson Cruz yesterday, and we continue today with Byron Buxton.
Buxton was on pace to secure his best season as a Minnesota Twin before that season was ended early on August 1st. Here was Buxton’s 2019 stat line over 87 games:
- .262 BA/.314 OBP/.827 OPS, 30 Doubles, 10 HR, 46 RBI, 14 SB
In addition, he was on pace to set career highs in triples, homers, RBI, steals, and WAR. Prior to crashing into a wall in Miami, Buxton was finally living up to the billing of an everyday center fielder. His incredible talent looked real.
In addition, Buxton hasn’t lost a step on defense, putting up a 1.3 dWAR over those 87 games. If he had played anything close to a full season, he would have been near the top of the league in that category.
Unfortunately, as has always been Buxton’s big problem, injuries struck, causing him to be out for the rest of the season and putting the start of his 2020 at risk. Buxton is an excellent defender, but his sometimes reckless defensive play can put his body at risk. The Twins want to change that.
Helping Buxton improve his positioning so he doesn’t make as many dangerous plays at full speed would be a great way to help keep him on the field. If he can manage to improve the style of play, it will do wonders for his health.
Make no mistake, the Minnesota Twins don’t want Buxton to be less of a defensive star. His incredible defensive plays are part of what makes the team so fun to watch, but they do want him to be a little safer so he can be a star on the field instead of an injured one.
It will be interesting to see this season if Buxton and the Twins can successfully get last season’s numbers over at least 120 games, because the closer he plays to a full season, the better the season the team will have.