The wrist injury Minnesota Twins super prospect Byron Buxton re-injured earlier this month has knocked him off the fast track to the big leagues.
That’s what Twins assistant general manager Rob Antony told 1500ESPN.com on Tuesday.
“Will it stunt the fast track that he might have been on? Yeah, probably,” Antony said. But Antony thinks there’s still time for Buxton to recover that development, perhaps with winter league at-bats or in the Arizona Fall League.
“I think we’ll probably try and do everything we can to try and make up for the missed at-bats,” Antony said. “If he’s healthy at the end of the season, I don’t see any reason he wouldn’t be either playing a winter league or a fall league to try and get some at-bats.”
Antony added that thinking of Buxton as the Twins 2015 opening day centerfielder is “way premature.”
Buxton injured his wrist while attempting to make a diving catch on March 16. He aggravated the injury sliding head first into third base during a game at Class A Fort Myers on May 8, according to the Star Tribune.
Per Darren Wolfson, a timetable of Buxton’s return to the diamond hasn’t been established, and one won’t be until he’s considered healthy.
According to CBS Sports, the 20-year-old former No. 2 overall pick was supposed to spend the majority of this summer at Class 2A New Britain, but his injury has limited him to 20 at-bats and five games.
Buxton and fellow top prospect Miguel Sano are both on the disabled list. But while Buxton’s injury is slowing down his route to the majors, Sano is recovering from Tommy John surgery and will miss the rest of the season.
