Twins rookie Byron Buxton finally starting to live up to the hype

OAKLAND, Calif. — Right here, sandwiched between hype and reality, stands Byron Buxton, the former No. 1 overall prospect in baseball who is back in the big leagues for the third time and finally — finally! — delivering on some of the potential that’s had prospect-watchers drooling for the past few seasons.

He was summoned to the big leagues last week by the Minnesota Twins. And so, the questions began again: Is now the time? Is he ready to deliver? Will he be everything the scouts say? Or will he another in baseball’s long list of all-hype, no-reality busts?

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Baseball prospects are sort of like kids in pageants. Or horses groomed to win high-stakes races. They’re judged at every turn, carefully molded to be perfect, to make everyone happy, to make everyone look like a genius for believing in them. So when they disappoint — like Buxton has over parts of two seasons — that’s when the questions start to get louder and louder.

Byron Buxton has hit better than ever since his return to the big leagues last week. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) The wall between hype and reality took on symbolic form last week as Buxton faced the big-league media again in the visitor’s clubhouse at O.Co Coliseum. They tossed all those questions at him, starting with “Are you back for good?”

Meanwhile, the TV directly across the room, right in Buxton’s sight line, was tuned to MLB Network where the pundits were discussing him. They talked about his pedigree, picked apart his swing, broke down what he’d done wrong at the start of the season and what he needed to do better this time.

Buxton, a 22-year-old with a Southern drawl that reflects his Georgia rearing, sunk back into his chair when he was done answering questions. For now, anyway. He glanced at the text messages on his phone, turning once to look at the TV as they talked about him. He quickly turned back toward his locker. You gotta figure even Byron Buxton gets tired of hearing about Byron Buxton sometimes.

A few minutes earlier, he’d been asked whether it was tiring, having to live up to all the hype, to be scrutinized and evaluated so intently. It’s been like that pretty much every day since the Twins made him the No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 draft, as he climbed through the minor leagues and jumped up the prospect rankings, landing at No. 1 or No. 2 on pretty much every reputable list the past two seasons.

“I can’t really say too much,” Buxton said, an understandable non-answer, because you don’t want to complain about being the baseball player with all the tools, all the attention and all the hype. “You’re going to have that stamp on your where ever you are. But I just try to put it on the side.”

Buxton arrived last season, getting his big-league call in June and playing 11 games before he wound up on the disabled list. He returned in August and finished the season with the Twins, hitting a disappointing .209 with 44 strikeouts compared to six walks. His on-base percentage, .250 in 46 games, was more than 100 points lower than it had been in the minor leagues that season, .367 in 72 games.

The prevailing thought around baseball was that Buxton just needed more time. After all, even Mike Trout struggled during his first big-league call-up. So Buxton started 2016 in the big leagues again. Still at the top of the prospects list, still on the tip of the tongue of Twins fans who were hoping an improved Buxton and improved Miguel Sano could make them even better than the surprise 83-win team they were a year ago. But Buxton struck out three times on opening day in three at-bats, and things didn’t get that much better from there. He hit .156 in 16 games before the Twins sent him back to the Triple-A. He struck out 24 times, only walked twice and managed just seven hits. On April 24, he struck out four times in five at-bats. After that it was decided: He needed to be demoted.

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The good thing about baseball, in most cases, failure is only temporary. You get another chance. So Buxton went back to the minors, worked on his swing and tried to make sure it was the last time he’d wear a uniform in Triple-A.

“There has been some tweaking to his swing,” said Twins manager Paul Molitor. “Particularly in the area of how he’s getting set, lifting that foot up a little bit more and trying to increase this balance and giving him more time to recognize and drive pitches, which he’s done.”

The results, small sample that they are, have been good: Since his return to the big leagues, he’s hitting .455, with 10 hits in 22 at-bats. Three of them came in Sunday’s game, matching a career high. He’s gotten a hit in every game since he’s been back, including three multi-hit games. He’d had just one in his first 19 games of the season. Since his return, Buxton’s batting average jumped almost 100 points, from .156 to .250.

“You got to have the confidence to believe in yourself,” Buxton said. “To know that you’re going to go up there and get a hit.

“It was rough,” he said of the start of the season. “Definitely not how I wanted to start out. but I went down and got myself back together.”

Buxton celebrates after one of his three hits on Sunday. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn) There was one person in particular who helped him while he was back in the minors. That was ex-Twins All-Star Torii Hunter. They met last season, as Hunter finished his career in Minnesota. When Buxton was in Triple-A, he talked to Hunter regularly. Hunter would watch Buxton’s games, tell him what he was doing wrong and what he should be doing instead. If those adjustments didn’t work, the two of them would get back on the phone and hash out new ideas.

“It’s definitely a confidence booster to have him and everybody else behind you,” Buxton said.

But it’s a bigger confidence booster to rack up the multi-hit games in the big leagues, to raise the batting average, to not strike out so much. He struck out six times in the six games since he’s been back. Compare that to the 11 strikeouts in first six games of 2016 or another 11 in the six games before he got sent down.

Those are the types of things that will certainly make the “what’s wrong with Byron Buxton?” questions stop. The other questions — like whether he’s finally ready to deliver on all that potential — will continue on, because that’s how it is when you’re a No. 1 prospect. When your pedigree is that high, some people won’t be satisfied until you’re an All-Star or an MVP or a World Series champ. Those expectations, they’re enough to bury you.

A reporter made a joke to Buxton last week about the expectations being so high. What could he say? He knows they are. And he knows that’s not changing.

“Yeah,” Buxton said. “They are.”

And then he laughed the biggest laugh in the Twins clubhouse that day. Because sometimes that’s all you can do.

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