The Minnesota Twins have been enjoying another stellar season from Byron Buxton, but his 2026 campaign recently hit a speed bump due to a hip injury. Buxton originally injured his right hip flexor on May 14 and missed nearly a week of action before returning to the lineup on May 19.
While Buxton has returned to the plate, the Twins may not be out of the woods as he has been mostly limited to designated hitter duties. Although it’s not an alarming trend, it has created some difficulties as Buxton told The Athletic’s Dan Hayes after Tuesday’s 5-3 win over the Chicago White Sox.
“We’re working on that brake system. It’s good though,” Buxton said. “Every day it’s progressing, feeling better. Keep going day by day and go from there. Obviously, it’s May so I don’t want to do something stupid, which is hard. They’re keeping me contained. I’m telling them all the time ‘Put me out there. I’ll be fine. Put me out there.’ They’re like ‘You’re not going to be fine because you’re going to go out there 100 percent and you’re not where you want to be.’
“It’s understanding the process. They know me pretty well. They know where I want to be so I’m trusting the process and to be able to still be able to play and contribute to the team, that’s positive. Take it one day at a time. Stay positive. Keep going.”
Byron Buxton trying to get back in the outfield after recent hip injury
There can be some silver linings taken out of Buxton’s comments. Having him in the lineup in any capacity is better than not having him at all. But it does take away from some of his value when he’s not playing the field.
Buxton battled significant knee injuries after earning his first All-Star appearance during the 2022 season and was limited to designated hitter duties during the 2023 season. While he appeared in 85 games, he didn’t look like himself, hitting .207/.294/.438 with 17 homers, 42 RBI and nine stolen bases before admitting his role took a mental toll on his performance.
“Even though you try to tell yourself you’ve got to flip the page because you’ve got to go back up there, you’re still, in the back of your head, like ‘Allright, he just struck me out on this slider. I’m not going to swing at this slider,” Buxton told Zone Coverage’s Tom Schreier during Spring Training in 2024. “And what do you do the next at-bat? You swing at that slider. You know? That’s part of it. That’s part of it. You just really trick your mind and trick who you are a lot when you DH because you’ve got that much time to think.”
Buxton’s career splits also show his struggles at DH. While he’s hit .254/.309/.498 with 152 homers, 392 RBI and 104 stolen bases as a centerfielder, he’s hit just .219/.309/.465 with 32 homers, 70 RBI and 14 steals as a designated hitter. That trend has continued this season as Buxton is hitting .281/.335/.627 with 15 homers and 23 RBI in 36 games as an outfielder but .171/261/.341 with a homer and three RBI as a designated hitter.
Hayes' observations on the Twin Cities Territory podcast were that Buxton is running at full speed and even scored from first base on Brooks Lee’s go-ahead double in the 11th inning on Tuesday night. But he also went to the end of the dugout instead of abruptly slowing down, perhaps showing a spot where he needs to improve before returning to the field.
“He knows he’s just not totally there,” Hayes said. “And so he wants that distraction…that he can turn his mind off by being in the field and know that he can make a play that takes an out away, even if he’s not doing something with the bat.”
After playing in the field just once since his return from injury, Buxton and Twins fans would love to see him in the outfield again. But it’s clearly a game of patience to make sure that their All-Star is 100 percent when the team needs him down the stretch.
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