In their quest to get oft-injured Byron Buxton through an entire season the Minnesota Twins are having their star center fielder start the season as the team’s designated hitter.
Buxton made his first spring training appearance in Tuesday’s 5-2 win over Tampa Bay. He went 1-for-3 with a double in his first at-bat. And it was a ringing double that came off his bat at 110.4 mph – the hardest hit ball of the spring by any Twins player, according to team reporter Do-Hyoung Park.
Rocco says that Byron Buxton will be the #MNTwins DH to start the season.
He's "doing great" health-wise, and Rocco said their plan to get a full season out of Buxton is to DH him early in the year to keep him in the lineup as much as possible as they keep building him up in CF.
— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) March 22, 2023
“If he could play 162 games in center field, we would have him in center field for 162 games,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Almost no player does that, or no player does that in the entire game. So what’s going to help us get the absolute most out of Buck and help us win the most games? I think it’s going to be him being in the lineup as much as possible.”
The 29-year-old played in 92 games in 2022 and slashed .224/.306/.833 with 28 home runs and 51 RBIs.
He battled right knee issues throughout 2022 before a right hip strain took him out in August. The Twins eventually shut him down for the season and he underwent knee surgery.
The Twins traded for center fielder Michael A. Taylor from the Royals this offseason to fill the center field void, so it’s effectively one gold-glover replacing another until the Twins feel Buxton is ready to play defense.
The Twins open the season Thursday, March 30 at the Kansas City Royals.
