Buxton's presence in dugout a 'game-changer' for Twins

MINNEAPOLIS -- All Byron Buxton has ever wanted to hear is, “Yes.”

That’s the answer he’s always sought, regardless of how banged up he is, regardless of how much toll the season has taken on his body: Yes, he can play. Yes, he can be on the field with his teammates. Yes, he can have the opportunity to be there for his brothers.

So imagine how hard it must have been for the 29-year-old center fielder to admit that the right answer this time was, “No.”

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“I ain’t going to say I couldn't play,” Buxton said Tuesday after the Twins’ victory in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series. “I probably could have played. It’s all about contributing. I can go out there and do what I want to do, but it wouldn’t probably be at the speed I want it to be. That’s one of those where I don’t want to hurt the team.”

The 26-man roster the Twins released for their two-game Wild Card Series sweep of the Blue Jays did not have Buxton’s name on it, hard as he tried to overcome the pain in his right knee that has been his primary limitation for two seasons.

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In the end, it was about the team. Buxton was there, with a front-row seat, to see how hard the Twins worked to get here. He would normally have run through a wall to be out there too, and Rocco Baldelli, his manager, notes that the best players sometimes have to think selfishly to be most ready to do their jobs.

But Michael A. Taylor had played an incredible center field all season, and Royce Lewis needed the DH spot. Buxton admitted there likely wasn’t room for him to help in his current state.

“It's hard, when you've worked that hard and you're that great of a player, to actually look up and say what [he] just said,” Baldelli said. “It's not easy to do.

“But his love for the group and the team, and his desire for the team to win -- and knowing what he's capable of at this moment, at least -- it's not easy to always be honest with yourself about those things. It takes a great deal of fortitude.”

Still, Buxton has been right there on the top rail of the dugout next to Lewis, in the middle of the celebrations and hugs that ensued after each of the Twins’ milestone victories in the Wild Card Series -- the first of which snapped an 18-game playoff skid dating to 2004, and the second of which secured their first playoff series win since ’02.

Though Buxton’s right knee has prevented him from being on the field, that hasn’t stopped him from helping his team as part of those monumental wins.

As Lewis sat at the podium following his historic two-homer game that powered the Twins past the Blue Jays in Game 1, he immediately gave credit to Buxton in helping him navigate the routine of becoming a full-time DH. Lewis was also on the mend, from a left hamstring strain that occurred exactly two weeks before Game 1 and kept him from playing defense at third base.

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“Staying warm, riding the bike in between innings, maybe standing up while the team is on defense, similar to your approach you would [have] playing defense,” Lewis said of Buxton’s help. “Obviously you're not fielding the ball, but at least you're on your feet. You're keeping the blood flow going.”

And as Buxton watches the game from the vantage point of an observer instead of someone actively trying to prepare for his next plate appearance, teammates say they’ve gleaned plenty from what his veteran eyes pick up about the action on the field.

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“Having him in the dugout is a game-changer, for sure,” Carlos Correa said. “He’s letting the guys know if a pitcher is doing this, doing that. Sometimes when you’re in the game, you’re thinking about a lot of stuff that’s going on. The people that are just sitting back and watching are more aware of the [pitcher’s] tendencies, and he’s been really good at that.”

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. This year was supposed to be different for someone who has so cruelly been kept out of the most important games throughout his career.

Buxton started the 2017 AL Wild Card Game in center field; he exited after running into the wall while making a brilliant catch. He wasn’t active for the 2019 AL Division Series, having undergone season-ending shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum in September. Buxton appeared in the 2020 AL Wild Card Series, but he was dealing with concussion symptoms stemming from a hit-by-pitch to the head during the final week of the regular season.

This is why the Twins kept Buxton at DH to begin the season, in the hopes that the eased workload would help the knee get well enough to put him back in center field and allow him to be himself.

Ultimately, it didn’t help as much as they’d hoped. And though he tried to work his way back after being placed on the IL for an unrelated hamstring injury in early August with the hopes that the recovery time would allow him to play center field, he still hasn’t cleared the bar.

The Twins were noncommittal on Thursday about whether Buxton could be ready for this ALDS, which starts Saturday, after missing the Wild Card round. Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey only said that Buxton would remain “day to day” while continuing to work behind the scenes with live at-bats.

It doesn’t appear likely that this will be the time; but the Twins aren’t ruling anything out as Buxton travels with them. Maybe, with enough time, that answer just might become, “Yes.”

“I see the work that he puts in to get his body ready,” Taylor said. “And a lot of the stuff that's happened has been out of his control. So it's hard. But he's got a great attitude about it, and he continues to work hard to put himself in a situation to help the team.”

“He means a lot to me and everyone else in that room,” Baldelli said. “He's going to keep working and see if he can get back. But right now, he knows now is not the right time.”