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Twins' Byron Buxton Could Be Due For A Breakout Season In 2027
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- Twins' Byron Buxton Could Be Due For A Breakout Season In 2027
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)
Byron Buxton had a season that he and the Minnesota Twins will be looking to leave behind with him struggling to stay healthy all year due to a nagging hip injury that ended up resulting in the 32-year-old center fielder needing season-ending surgery.
Still, Buxton was a beast at the plate during the limited stretches of the year when he was on the field, batting .254 and recording an impressive .829 OPS while also knocking in 46 RBI. He also launched 25 home runs across 93 games of action.
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Buxton also made the MLB All-Star roster for the third time in his career but he ended up having to sit out of the annual mid-summer classic as his hip issues bugged him in typical fashion.
He continued to produce even in moments when the rest of the Twins' lineup couldn't deliver, including the team's 13-4 blowout loss to the Cleveland Guardians in which he went 2-for-3 at the dish.
Buxton finished the month of August on a strong note before Minnesota pulled the plug on his season, going 3-for-5 in a matchup against the Athletics while scoring four runs and drawing a walk.
Despite all his injury concerns, the Twins have been right in tightly holding onto their veteran center fielder given his keen eye in the batter's box and his desire to remain with the franchise which he made clear before the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
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With that, Buxton having a monster year in 2027 should be no surprise to anyone due to his track record of having seasons in which he's batted above .200 or .250. His hip could get even more time to recover should there be a lockout with no baseball until 2028.
The Twins have also seen a lot of their younger bats like Brooks Lee, Luke Keaschall and Royce Lewis step up which could be helpful in providing protection for Buxton from opposing managers trying to find and exploit any weakness in Minnesota's lineup.
Furthermore, Buxton reached 10 years of service time this year, something that he will look to build on through the seasons that follow with the very team that drafted him second overall in 2012 out of Appling County High School in his native Baxley, Georgia.
While Buxton keeps rehabbing from his surgery, Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll will be hard at work trying to retain key free agents like catcher Ryan Jeffers and reliever Taylor Rogers.
