Byron Buxton hasn’t experienced the 2015 campaign he’d hoped so far, but that hasn’t brought the 21-year old outfielder down. Drafted right out of Appling County High School in Baxley, Ga. in 2012, all the center fielder has known for the last three years is baseball and that’s all he wants to focus on. Coming into the season Buxton was names the No. 1 minor league prospect in the Minnesota Twins organization, but the attention is nothing new. He was the consensus best player coming into the 2012 MLB draft when the Twinse picked him No. 2 overall. The hype surrounding his rise through the minor league ranks hasn’t bothered Buxton at all.
“You have to put that out of your mind,” Buxton said. “You’ve got to come out every day and help your team win. That’s what I try to do every day, come to the field, have fun and enjoy the time while I’m here. It goes by pretty fast. One day you’ll not be able to play this game anymore, so I want to cherish every moment.”
Buxton played in just one Double-A game last season, going 0-for-3, but that was after a solid season and a half in Fort Meyers, Fla. Currently for the Chattanooga Lookouts Buxton is batting .247, but that number doesn’t tell the whole story. He leads the team with 29 RBIs and he has 18 extra-base hits with five home runs, nine triples and four doubles. On 10 of Buxton’s hits, going into Thursday night, have been singles. When he connects, he connects with power.
“Everybody is going to have struggles,” Buxton said. “You just have to battle and fight through them.”
The jump from High-A to Double-A is the most challenging in the sport of baseball and Buxton has been thrown into the fire his whole career. After high school graduation most kids are thinking about college or a summer job. He was preparing for big league spring training. He’s not had a chance to breath since.
“Coming out of high school, it was tough,” Buxton said. “I’d never seen 95 every single day. It wore on me a little bit.”
Buxton has been on a steady rise since, but the Twins’ plan for him seems to be methodical and it should be. He’ll need all year in Double-A to grow more accustomed to major league-style pitching and continue his development as a defensive outfielder. Mostly, he needs to become more consistent at the plate. Those power numbers don’t lie, but his 34 strikeouts and .353 on-base-percentage must improve.
“I’ve been working on my approach,” Buxton said. “I try to get good at-bats. I want to play the game a little bit smarter and learn what to do in certain situations. Sometimes I get off it a little bit. I have to keep working hard at it and put in my time in the cage.”
Twins load up in Double-A
Minnesota hasn’t been stingy with its prospects this season, putting nearly all their top players on their Chattanooga Lookouts squad. Third baseman Miguel Sano is experiencing a lot of the same issues Buxton is, with good power numbers (eight home runs and nine doubles) to go along with 23 RBIs, but his strikeouts are high (44) and his batting average is .235 with a .340 on-base-percentage. Pitcher Jose Berrios, the Twins No. 3-ranked prospect, is having a completely different experience with the Lookouts. He’s 4-2 with a 2.88 ERA with a two-hit complete game shutout under his belt. Reliever Nick Burdi, their No. 7-ranked prospect, has been feeling out his position as a middle reliever, with a 3-3 record and 6.60 ERA in just 16 innings pitched. Eighth-ranked Jorge Polanco is having a tremendous season so far. The shortstop is hitting .309 with eight stolen bases, 19 RBIs, four home runs, one triple and six doubles and just 25 strikeouts And while all that looks good, his seven errors not even halfway through the season should be a concern for a middle infielder.
