Buxton on goals for '23, why this Twins team is special

In a recent sit-down with MLB.com at Yankee Stadium, Byron Buxton answered a wide range of topics about the Twins, including his new role as the team’s designated hitter.

MLB.com: When I look at the Twins, it looks different than the last two years. I say that in a positive way. Tell me what’s different?

Buxton: This is not the same Twins team that people have seen in the last two years. We are making our own identity. We brought in some great players. We brought in some more pieces in the front office. We have one of the best analytical teams, and it is able to put whatever we need to do on the Major League side and in the farm system. It works. We have all the pieces we need to win a World Series.

MLB.com: I know you love Luis Arraez, but once you picked up Pablo López, it made a difference to the pitching staff.

Buxton: Yes. And the veteran guys, as well -- Sonny Gray, Kenta Maeda and those guys. If they get off to slow starts, they have that mentality to get back in the zone. Friday was a great example [in a 4-3 victory over the Yankees]. Louie Varland flew in [from Triple-A St. Paul]. The first inning didn’t go the way he wanted, but he settled in, came back and he was himself. The biggest difference you see here, we are going out and attacking the hitters instead of trying to feel it out.

MLB.com: You mentioned the Yankees. All these years, the Twins have had problems beating the Yankees, but on Thursday and Friday, you defeated them. There are signs that things are going to be different between the two clubs.

Buxton: They are. We came into this series knowing this ain’t the same Twins team they saw in the past. They have been whippin’ on us long enough. It’s time to turn the tables. At some point, you have to finally change and put that change in effect. The change has started now.

MLB.com: Why do you think The Twins are good enough to go to the World Series?

Buxton: Just how well our bond and chemistry has been, just like the Nationals had in 2019. Nobody expected them to do what they did [win the World Series] after starting the season the way they did. Those two pieces gelled together and it took off. You feel it’s not just from [the Twins’] front office or the fans, you feel it here day in and day out. Every day we walk in here, it’s the positivity. I wouldn’t say we didn’t have it over the years, but the positivity is, just play the game.

MLB.com: How good is it to get Carlos Correa back on the team? It seems like he brought some energy to this team?

Buxton: He did. He was a big leader last year. I couldn’t be happier to get him back, especially having him play by my side. The game isn’t easy, but when you know as much as he knows, [you are trying] to learn from him. He has been to the World Series and playoffs. The knowledge part of it that keeps him very subtle and calm. He just plays the game. Nothing bothers him. He doesn’t mind people booing him. That’s a baseball atmosphere. What he has done, not just last year, but to start this year, it’s another game changer in how far we have come.

MLB.com: What has Correa done to make you better?

Buxton: It’s more the mental side -- learning analytics, a little bit more learning how to read reports a little bit better. Have a good game plan, but overall making what I was trying to do more clear and better. Everyday I come in and do my routine. As long as my routine is my routine, I feel the same going into the game.

MLB.com: I want to see you play 140 to 150 games this year. I noticed that they are DHing you because of your right knee, which was surgically repaired late last year. Do you feel that will keep you on the field this year?

Buxton: I’m playing. So long as I’m playing, I feel like I’m getting better. DHing is fine. That is the positivity of just being able to go out there and play and not being hurt or being in the injury room. I’m thankful. I know what position I’m in and where I’m at. I know the process they want to take. For me, it’s not about rushing or getting back out [in the outfield]. They know I need to take care of my body. They need to make sure before I go back out there that everything is where it needs to be so I don’t have any setbacks.

MLB.com: How are you doing body wise? Are you 100 percent?

Buxton: I feel good. But, for me, day by day, it gets a little bit better. Everybody is going to have little hiccups – feel good, feel bad. But day in and day out, I feel good. I’m positive. I’m in a better mindset just to the point of, I know I’m playing everyday. It’s one of those where you don’t have to wait and see how this feels or how that feels. For me, I know I’m playing. I have that positive attitude every day.

MLB.com: It’s always about the team with you. But what are your personal goals in terms of numbers this year?

Buxton: This year was to get to 130 games. I don’t care how that is. How that got to be. Not to undercut it or overdo it, but 130 is my minimum. If I get to 130, I know that I’ve had a great year. That positive little sign is something that sticks in my head.

MLB.com: You seem a lot happier.

Buxton: It’s the atmosphere we have in the clubhouse. It’s the guys we have in here that allows us mentally to just relax, be ourselves. You don’t have those bad days. It’s always a happy day. That’s what I feel.

MLB.com: What does your manager, Rocco Baldelli, mean to you? You and him have a lot in common. Like you, he had a lot of injuries during his playing career.

Buxton: He means a lot, just because his career was shortened because of injuries. He is somebody I can talk to about my injury history, being injured a lot. I try to learn a little bit of what I can do to prevent myself from getting injured [again]. It’s all about communication. He is open. When I walk into his office, I go, “Hey, you got a minute to talk.” He is like, “Sit down.” I don’t sit down. I’ll stand up by the door and I tell him what I want to say so I can walk back out. It means a lot to be able to express myself. He understands. There will be some managers who would say, “Go to the trainer’s room” or “Go wherever, the trainers know better.” He has been there and done it. He understands what I’m trying to do and what I’m bettering myself for.

MLB.com: What’s the biggest advice he ever gave you in terms of taking care of yourself?

Buxton: Don’t try to catch every ball.

MLB.com: Which you do.

Buxton: That’s my mentality. It’s something I’m learning. That might be the hardest one. A couple of years ago, [Baldelli] said he was going to play me back and I asked, “What about the balls in front of me?” He is like, “You are going to get some or you ain't going to get some.” That was kind of like my pet peeve. I was like, “You can beat me over my head, but I’m not going to let me beat you up front.”

It was trying to reverse my mind like take away this double rather than dive for this single. It took a couple of weeks. Man, it might have taken me a month for me to figure it out. I bought into it, but it was still like I was still going 150 percent trying to catch this ball I knew I couldn’t catch. It was fighting a losing battle and he sat me down one day and said, “You are doing fine. Just don’t do anything crazy.” We know how important it is for me to be on the field. That’s kind of the shift in mindset.

MLB.com: When Baldelli announced you would start the season as a DH, that told me he cared about you. Is that how you took it?

Buxton: I know he cares. He wants to do what’s best for me in that position and what’s best for the team. I was coming off of knee surgery and still had things going in Spring Training with my knee, so it was one of those things where he came up to me and said, “Do what you got to do to get ready for day one. We’ll worry about it when we get there.” All of Spring Training, I wasn’t stressing about am I going to be ready for the season? Am I going to be ready for this? It was like get ready for Opening Day. He simplified that for me. That right there changed the whole mindset of thinking, “you are rushing or trying to get ready too quickly.”

MLB.com: You were born in Georgia. What do Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron mean to you?

Buxton: They mean a lot. Going to the Jackie Robinson Museum [on Friday] taught me how much Jackie changed the world. Most people probably don’t know half the stuff he did. The man wasn’t just a baseball player; He went to the Army. He was an activist [in the Civil Rights Movement]. He walked beside Martin Luther King [in the 1960s]. [Robinson] stood up for the Black Panther Party.

“That is stuff that needs to be known a lot more. They don’t teach that in school. You need to start spreading that word so that more people know. … Jackie is the reason why half of the stuff we are able to do now is in effect.

Hank Aaron changed the way I look at the game of baseball. He had 755 home runs. Nobody expected him to do that. We just need to learn more. It’s more than just baseball with Jackie and Hank. It’s more than just, ‘Oh, they tried to do this or they did it.’ No, they went through hell and back to try to get us Black players to this position where we are today.”

MLB.com: You seem like a proud Black man.

Buxton: I am. It’s something I’m grateful for. I’m blessed to be Black, and it’s something I take a lot of pride in.