Byron Buxton is healthy. Healthy to that point that he’ll start the 2024 season in center field after spending all of last year as the designated hitter before a knee injury ended his season after only 85 games.
It was Buxton’s ninth season in the big leagues and the eighth that he’s played fewer than 100 games as injuries have ravaged his career after he was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 MLB Draft.
“Even though things don’t go the way that I wanted to, you gotta stay positive. Not physically but mentally,” Buxton said at TwinsFest during a conversation with WCCO Radio’s Vineeta Sawkar on Saturday . “Mentally it’s a little bit more of a struggle because you want to go out there and do what you’re supposed to do. Do your job, make the fans happy, dive for balls, hit home runs, all the things that we love to do. And when that’s taken away, I wouldn’t say depression set in, but you just don’t feel like you are who you’re supposed to be.”
Buxton is supposed to be a monster in the middle of Minnesota’s lineup and a Gold Glove defensive player in center field.