How Byron Buxton has Transformed his Game

[@JulianWyllie]

Mark DeRosa does it again! If he had time I'd watch a supercut of him breaking down the top 100 hitters

[@bensweetra4871]

Dero=W

[@Cozzzyboy]

Def has been consistently one of the best ones doing it since I’ve been a little kid

[@CSOne_]

Phenomenal Analysis… Simply Awesome!

[@OGPapatron]

Minnesota is indeed an interesting team this year

[@gabrielmaddern6070]

Our expectations are 1 playoff win. That's why.

[@AdamB34]

Interesting how? They stink and don't have a single star hitter

[@philipkelly7369]

this was great and it's like this network was reading my mind, because I had been watching Buxton play lately and I was a curious about his batting stance. I wasn't sure but I thought it looked different to what I remembered.

[@AdamB34]

Different stance, same shitty results.

[@bigworm6927]

If he could stay healthy he’d be a perennial MVP candidate

[@floppydong295]

No way. All he does is hit home runs in spurts. No average. Dude is so overrated

[@glusur76]

​@@floppydong295 he walks, plays good defense, good base runner

[@AdamB34]

No he absolutely wouldn't. He's one of the worst overall hitters in the league and now he doesn't even play outfield anymore. When is the last time a DH hitting .225 won an mvp???

[@AdamB34]

​@@glusur76 he literally doesn't play defense at all and he was one of the worst at drawing walks until this year. Some of you are delusional about this guy. It's been NINE YEARS 😂😂😂. Let it go. He's a massive bust and he's never been an mvp level player. Mvps can hit a baseball consistently lol

[@AJ_savage16]

​@@AdamB34true dude can't hit strikeout a lot and always injured

[@rjb319]

Amazing breakdown, as always De-Ro! Thank you!!!

[@jacksonpowers3947]

Couple things to say as a die hard twins fan 1.) we do have a very interesting team, good enough all around the diamond and outfield, solid rotation if maeda and Pablo can perform and a decent bullpen with our hard carries being Lopez and Duran 2.) I watched that Yankees game with my dad against Cortes and on his 2-0 pitch he got a slider down and in couple inches in off the plate called a strike, didn’t like the call, next pitch Cortes throws a fastball same distance in on the plate a little higher and buxton spits on it no reaction, got called a ball, at that point I told my dad he was locked in and I could tell he was about to have a big hit, lone behold he jacked a homer couple pitches later.

[@AdamB34]

It's arguably the worst offense in the league. Nothing interesting about this team.

[@philmalavarca9489]

MVP candidate if he’s healthy. When he first broke into the big leagues, I always thought his power was the most underrated part of his game. Now, it’s become a big part of his game. It’s impressive.

[@AdamB34]

He's never been an mvp candidate lol. Just stop

[@lockout88]

Favorite player In the current mlb

[@AdamB34]

That's sad

[@TerryBerryKix]

Buck’s been watching Richie Sexson rake inside pitching.

[@AdamB34]

Hasn't helped much. He still can't hit for shit

[@Benisuber1]

And yet, Twins fans are still whining until their voices go hoarse about him missing a game, even though that's only 3 of the 26 games so far this season. That's a 143 game pace. I would be ecstatic if he plays 143 games.

[@toadvine7952]

@@donmcbean7465 Shut up nerd.

[@ihatepeopleyes9492]

He hasnt played a full season for 10 years. 😂

[@ryanst.g]

As a Twins fan its super frustrating, they've really got something cooking this year but they've been so disappointing for so long the casual fan just falls into the same narrative. Until they make a playoff run, it'll never change.

[@floppydong295]

Dude is all hype. Loads of talent. He can hit some bombs. That’s about it. Nothing else to his game is above average at all

[@AdamB34]

It's been 9 YEARS homie and he's only played over 92 games ONCE. Of course people get vocal when he misses games. He's missed 462 games the last 8 years 😂😂😂. The best and most valuable part of his game is his defense and he can't even do that anymore because he always get hurt. He's nothing but an average DH at this point. The only people whining are people like you constantly crying about how he gets treated poorly

[@mn7568]

Mr Buxton likes to run into hard objects . We can see him play defense in spurts but hes become a real issue at the plate.

[@thinerj1]

Only if he dosent get hurt like he has been every season!

[@floppydong295]

Blows my mind he has only played over 100 games in a season once. Does he not work out? Like how is he constantly hurt playing baseball? Dude mashes like 15 home runs in a couple months and then just calls it

[@AdamB34]

Even worse, he's only played over 92 games once lol. He's missed 462 games the last 8 years

[@OhAnd]

He’s fucking ripped lol - he definitely works out a ton. He had some bad luck injuries earlier in his career plus he plays the outfield so hard that it’s inevitable that he gets injured. Now he has chronic issues from this injuries

[@AdamB34]

​@@OhAndbro.. all of his injuries are different, not chronic. He also can't hit even when he's healthy. He hasn't played outfield all year and he still can't hit or stay on the field.

[@AJ_savage16]

Buxton has been mostly healthy this year since he's DH'ing and he's still terrible..he's strikes out a lot

[@OhAnd]

He’s not healthy - he’s knee is still messed up. That’s why he’s not playing the outfield

[@AdamB34]

​@@OhAndyou're 100% wrong. They took him out of the outfield to PREVENT injury not because his knee is still injured. He's currently out with a HAMSTRING injury, not a knee injury. You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about

[@jeremyrhansen6637]

Easy!!! He hasn't got hurt yet!

[@AdamB34]

And he still can't hit

[@joeschermann7729]

He hardly ever plays. This is a meaningless video.

[@dennesey]

From a Minnesota fan who's been following Buxton's every at-bat since 2015, can say it's his power that is really his only upperish-tier weapon on offense. We're talking about a career .244/.301/.474 hitter who will collect only his 500th hit probably today going into his age-30 season. He doesn't steal or walk, has many more career K's than combined RBI's/runs scored, and ALL of his career "clutch" metrics (men on, close and late, etc) are all significantly below average. He has a higher % of solo HR's than most in the league and overall generally do not affect game outcome. Getting a crucial, non-HR, RBI-producing hit from him is incredibly rare as he doesn't drive in runs via 1b, 2b, or 3b very often. Buxton's value is mainly defense and cheap contract.

[@RFantasyFB8675]

Wow, bad post. Did you watch the video explaining how he has transformed himself as a hitter in 2019. Completely different player before then but sure, include all his numbers so he looks worse. You talk about solo homers and lack of rbis but you don't include how of his 1073 abs from 2019-2023, he only had 197 abs in the prime rbi opportunity spots of 3rd, 4th, and 5th in the lineup. Or less than 20%. He hits a lot of solo homers and less rbis because he hit mainly 1st, 2nd, and 9th over the last 5 years when he transformed himself. Not really good spots to get rbis, and with Buck swinging for the fences, not maximizing his full potential as he should have been batting 3rd, 4th, or 5th. But can't blame Buck as that's a coaching decision. Bucks season avg from his 2019-2023 numbers if he gets 500 abs 36hrs .258 avg .317 obp .598 slg .915ops Or aka amazing stats Now Buxton is worse in the clutch (scoring posistion/late or close) but he still hits above league average. In 334 abs it is 25hrs 108rbis .219 avg .283 obp .512slg .795ops Based on Bill James OPS scale of Great .900 or higher Very Good .833-.899 Above Average .766-.832 Average .700-.765 Below Average .633-.699 Poor .566-.632 Very Poor .566 and below Buxton has a Great OPS for his regular stats and is still Above Average in clutch situations. Buxton is gonna swing and try and drive everyone in, a guy like Polanco is gonna just try and drive the guys in scoring position in. Buxton is who you want coming up with 0-1 outs in clutch spots, Polanco is the guy you want up with 2 outs in the clutch spots. Different players but it is something Buck could improve at. Buxton's value is his powerful bat, defense, and contract, and the Twins are finally realizing it this year as he is hitting 3rd or 4th 60% of the time. But to do that he has to DH to keep him healthy, that's why MAT was brought in. Him healthy with his bat in the lineup everyday trumps his defense in center field. It's a new era of baseball where power is king, and Buck has realized that. Hopefully you can realize it soon as well. And I'm a fan of the small ball players, the high average, walks a lot, scores a bunch of runs guys. But you can't have a lineup of only those types of players. Buck is a different type of player and he's really good at it. Buck is gonna have those hot stretches where he hits .300 and he's gonna have those bad stretches where he hits .100. It's just who he is. But he still is an elite hitter who can wallop the ball when he come to the plate.

[@AdamB34]

​@@RFantasyFB8675 holy hell that's a lot of stat twisting to prove your ignorant point. I love how you say his best attributes are power and defense and then immediately point out he no longer plays defense. So half his value is zapped right there. Your theory on his lack of rbi is also hilariously ridiculous. You try to claim he doesn't drive in runs because he hits 1st or 2nd but guys like Brian Dozier would hit leadoff and still drive in nearly 100 runs. Fyi... hitting .219 in ANY situation is not clutch or good or even average. It's also pretty funny how upset you are because the o.p didn't ignore Buxton's first 4 years lol. Sorry little guy but that's not how stats work. You don't just cherrypick the best seasons and the best stats when evaluating a player. By doing that we could make terrible players look like superstars. But since you like doing it let's cherrypick some more shall we??? In the last 2 seasons Buxton is hitting: .227 avg .320 obp .820 ops 34% k-rate That is objectively AWFUL. Stop pretending hitting .227 and striking out 34% of the time is just how baseball is played right now lol. It's not. Those are horrible metrics even in this era of lower batting averages. You're literally letting ONE SEASON, 2021, fool you. That's the only year he was a good hitter in 9 years. If you take way 2021 then in 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023 here's his stats: .242 avg .305 obp .828 ops 28% k-rate To put that into perspective those stats in 2022 would've ranked 179th in AVG, 100th in OBP, 25th OPS (propped up exclusively by his home runs) and 10th WORST in k-rate. Stop with the ridiculous mental gymnastics and stat twisting. He's not a good hitter by any metric, he just hits homers in bunches and then does absolutely nothing for a month lol. It's been almost a decade kid, Buxton just is what he is at this point. No amount of crying and stat manipulation is going to change anything. He's just simply not a good hitter. Low average, low walks, low obp and high strikeouts is not irrelevant just because he can hit homers in bunches once every 2 months lol.

[@dennesey]

@@AdamB34 Dude- your mental awareness is impressive. NICE statistical breakdown. I did a similar review last year and actually posted something on FB the 2nd week into the 2018 season stating the Twins over-estimated the talent/impact of their supposed big 5 (Buxton, Sano, Kepler, Rosario, Polanco). Never even saw R M's post until just now and wouldn't have bothered with a response simply because he falls into the massive pool of "those fans" who continuously categorize Buxton as elite. Their superstar won't even be a blip on the radar come retirement time. Bet we use our 2023 pick on a CF....

[@AdamB34]

@@dennesey agreed. Buxton fans are simply delusional. It's been a decade and they're still talking about "what if" he stays healthy or "what if" he finally starts hitting consistently. I've never seen a group of fans be this insanely obtuse about any other athlete

[@AdamB34]

​​@@RFantasyFB8675 your comment continues to age HORRIBLY

[@yakultloverjp]

But he can't stay healthy

[@otismygotis3670]

He is so overrated.

[@madxD144]

if only hes healthy