Byron Buxton produced one of the 50 or so best seasons in Major League Baseball in 2024, pitchers and position players combined. Buxton's fWAR ranked 42nd among position players and was higher than all but 17 pitchers. It's even more impressive when considering Buxton played in 102 games, which was dozens fewer than most players on the list. Comparing by the percentages is even more favorable. Checking out his weighted on-base average, Buxton was 17th in the league, and he was 14th in wRC+, if that's your jam.
Buxton produced a .279/.335/.524 slash line in '24, the fifth time he's reached a .500 slugging percentage in his career, all coming in the past six seasons. He also lowered his K% by nearly 6%, though he also dropped his BB% to 5.2%, about half of what it was in 2023. Clearly, Buxton was taking a different approach, not waiting to get deep into counts. Buxton's method worked, but we should still expect him to keep making adjustments, looking for the sweet spot. Buxton's .245 isolated power was 95 points below his career best in 2021. There's more meat on the bone.
Buxton's value extends to running the bases and patrolling center field, where MLB Statcast rated him in the top quarter percentile or better in 2024. About the only place Buxton's value doesn't run hot comes in strike zone management. He chased balls out of the zone and struck out a lot, and didn't draw many walks. He also didn't hit a lot of singles, and doesn't typically, which means Buxton doesn't give himself a chance to steal second base. He's still got the sprint speed to swipe a bag (97th percentile), and he was even feeling adventurous enough to try to steal third in Spring Training. It might be throwing caution to the wind, but Buxton could be even more disruptive if he felt confident enough to go.
Buck Truck is one of the best players in the league, and he wants to play with the Twins forever, or at least until he retires from the game. His value comes first from what he does on the field, but Buxton also is a treasured resource for anyone on the roster looking for someone to point the way. Not every player can say they offer something significant to a team when they're not in the lineup.
It's also true that Buxton had his best season at the plate since 2021, and second best of his career, because he played 102 games, his most since a career-high 140 in 2017. Like with Carlos Correa at shortstop, the Twins will go their farthest with Buxton in center. Both of them are AL MVP candidates if they can get to 140 games played.