It’s official: Byron Buxton’s season is over.
The writing was already on the wall since the Twins have tumbled to 10 games out of first place in the AL Central with only 12 games to go, but the Twins formalized things by announcing Friday evening that Buxton will undergo season-ending arthroscopic knee surgery.
Buxton will have the operation done on Tuesday, with Dan Hayes of the The Athletic citing a team source who described it as a “clean up” and that Buxton will be ready for spring training.
Byron Buxton will undergo arthroscopic surgery to clean up his knee next week, Derek Falvey says. He’s done for the season.
Said there’s no specific tear or acute concern in there — they’re going in to clean up the area.
— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) September 23, 2022
Buxton was placed on the 10-day injured list after leaving Minnesota’s Aug. 22 game against the Rangers. The Twins called his injury a “low grade right hip strain,” an issue that had been bothering him for quite some time, according to manager Rocco Baldelli.
Baldelli said the team kept his hip pain quiet, while all of the attention was on his ailing knee, that he injured while making a catch against the wall and later aggravated while sliding into second base.
Minnesota tried to manage Buxton’s health with a goal of getting him to play in 100 games. He played 92 and slugged 28 homers in those games. That translates to 49 homers in 162 games, or 39 home runs in 125 games, which seems far more reasonable for a player with Buxton’s injury history.
