Twins expect Buxton to return in '23 after cortisone shot

MINNEAPOLIS -- Time is starting to run short for the Twins to build Byron Buxton back up from his latest knee issue into game action -- but head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta said Wednesday that the club still anticipates that Buxton will play again this year.

Buxton received a cortisone injection to address inflammation and irritation to the medial plica -- a membrane flap -- in his right knee that paused his rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul following an early exit from a rehab game on Sept. 1. Buxton will begin testing the knee with rotational work again on Thursday, Paparesta said.

With only 10 games remaining on St. Paul’s regular-season schedule after Wednesday, will the Twins still have enough time -- and games -- remaining to get Buxton ready to play in 2023?

“We will make it happen,” Paparesta said. “We're going to make it happen in the context of us being able to get him at-bats and get him prepared to play, yes.”

Paparesta also indicated that the Twins had still not ruled out the possibility that Buxton will return to center field this season, as he did for the first time during his first rehab game with the Saints on Aug. 30.

“My impression is for him to be able to play wherever he needs to be able to play for this team,” Paparesta said.

The inflammation to the plica “came on out of nowhere” during Buxton’s first rehab game, according to Paparesta. It has mainly caused discomfort when Buxton bends and rotates on that back knee, as would be required in the act of hitting. Buxton has not played since that Sept. 1 game.

Though the issue initially presented like patellar tendinitis, as had previously been described by the Twins, the MRIs looked fine in that regard. Paparesta said things “are moving in the right direction” with the results of the chondroplasty procedure Buxton underwent to clean up the damaged cartilage in the knee last year.

After a conservative approach did not address the new inflammation, the Twins opted for the cortisone injection.

“We do know what happened; we do know what it is,” Paparesta said. “We've addressed it with a cortisone injection. Conservative treatment, as you know, for that week or so wasn't really getting the job done, so we needed to kind of take it to that next level.”

Buxton appeared in 85 games for the Twins this season before going on the IL on Aug. 4 with a right hamstring strain. He was limited to DH duties only because his knee did not improve during the season as much as Minnesota hoped, even with the easier workload.

With Buxton having had a month off to address the hamstring and rest the knee, the Twins hoped this would be their best shot to get him back into the field on occasion down the stretch -- especially given their current roster composition doesn’t lend itself well to dedicating everyday DH at-bats to one player.

The knee has, again, altered the course of Buxton’s season for a second straight year. Is there any way to tell whether this could continue impacting him into the future?

“I'd love to tell you I have a crystal ball and can give you that answer, but my impression will be that he's going to play again this year and he'll be healthy and play next year, yes,” Paparesta said.