Byron Buxton‘s old friend, the injury bug, has resurfaced at the worst time. The Minnesota Twins are still in the AL wild-card race and a large part of the success can be attributed to veteran outfielder Byron Buxton. Coming into Saturday’s contest with the Washington Nationals, the 31-year-old led the Twins with a .285 batting average, 23 homers, 59 RBIs, a .346 on-base percentage and 92 hits over 84 games. He’s also eighth in the majors in OPS with a .913 mark.
Buxton, who has a history of injuries throughout his career, missed 19 games this season, but was relatively healthy and earned himself a spot on the All-Star team. Unfortunately, when you have only played over 100 games once in your career, people are waiting for something to happen when things are going too well.
However, Buxton left Saturday’s game with an injury, via The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman.
“Twins announced Byron Buxton was removed from the game with left side soreness. He’s considered day-to-day,” he reported.
Buxton was 0-for-3 before getting replaced by Trevor Larnach, who usually starts in left field. Backups Harrison Bader and Willi Castro could fill in for Buxton if he misses time.
On Sunday, the Minnesota Twins offense was dormant without their big-bopper. The Twins lost to CJ Abrams, Josh Bell and the Washington Nats by a score of 7-2. The Twins managed seven hits but lacked the intimidating presence of Big Bux. This is the worst possible time for Minny to lose its best player. The squad is 2-7 in their last nine games and, 10 games out if first place, five games below .500 but just 5.5 games out of the Wild Card. The Twins selected him with the second pick in the 2012 MLB Draft, and he made the All-Star team in 2022 and 2025. He also won Gold and Platinum Glove Awards in 2017.
Buxton has an extensive injury history that we have chronicled over the years.
