There is no question that Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton is one of the most exciting players in baseball.
Yes, he is injury-prone, but few major leaguers can do what he does.
The dynamic center fielder has had to battle a balky knee every now and then this season, but that hasn’t stopped him from being extremely productive both on offense and defense.
In fact, he is performing at an impressive pace.
“Byron Buxton was quite excitedly surprised when @betsyhelfand told him the stat (by @AaronGleeman) that he has 52 homers in his last 162 games. ‘To, I guess, see what could possibly happen in a 162-game season, it’s fun. … That kind of got me going. I’m a little itchy now,’” Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com tweeted, quoting Buxton and posting an extract of the interesting interview.
Byron Buxton was quite excitedly surprised when @betsyhelfand told him the stat (by @AaronGleeman) that he has 52 homers in his last 162 games.
“To, I guess, see what could possibly happen in a 162-game season, it’s fun. … That kind of got me going. I’m a little itchy now.” pic.twitter.com/qbCiOnxx9w
— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) June 29, 2022
It’s easy to fantasize about a full, healthy season from Buxton.
How Many Homers Will He Hit In 2022?
His career-high in games played came in 2017, at 140.
He hadn’t broken out back then, but now, he is a feared power hitter who is also capable of posting some impressive sprint speeds.
He doesn’t steal too many bases nowadays: that would represent an unnecessary threat to his health.
Instead, he has focused his time and energy into hitting homer after homer.
Despite a relatively low .236 average, he is already up to 20 homers as of Wednesday afternoon.
His .236/.315/.585 slash line confirms what we already know: his slugging percentage is extremely high, and he doesn’t need a good batting average to be productive.
The Twins are lucky to have him, and it’s fun to imagine him with a clean bill of health this year to see if he can make a run at 40 homers.
NEXT: Twins Insider Explains How Great A Healthy Byron Buxton Can Be