Byron Buxton Undergoes Knee Procedure; Plans to Play Center Field for Twins in 2024

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Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

Byron Buxton was added to the Minnesota Twins’ postseason roster for the final game of the ALDS, a season-ending loss vs the Houston Astros. He even got an at bat, where he popped out to 1st baseman, Jose Abreu.

Byron Buxton knee procedure

It was his first MLB at bat since August 1. Buck’s late-game pinch hit appearance didn’t parlay into a half-inning of defensive work, however, as his sore knee wouldn’t have been able to handle it. Minnesota’s season ended an inning later.

Related: What Will Twins Do About Sonny Gray and His Impending Free Agency?

Reporters met with Twins brass for various updates on the team and individual players, entering the offseason, and got a few injury/surgery plans, of note. The afternoon’s most interesting update was on Buxton. He and the team are wasting no time, in repairing the right-knee patellar tendinitis that sidelined him, most recently.

MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park tweets that Byron,“had an arthroscopic procedure to excise the plica in his right knee today”, also adding that the Twins still plan on playing him in center field next year.

We found out over the summer that, the only way Buxton will ever live up to the long-term contract extension the Twins signed him to a couple of offseason’s ago, is if he plays the majority of his games playing defense. As a designated hitter in 2023, Buck experienced *career lows in batting average (.207) and WAR (0.8).

*Seasons > 140 plate appearances

That means, it’s essential he finds a way to get his body healthy enough to play the outfield, going forward. Hopefully, this arthroscopic procedure gets the job done because I’m not sure any current major professional athlete struggles with knee problems like Buxton has. They have 886,384 ways to fix a bad knee, these days, right? It doesn’t make sense that he continues to struggle.

The Twins are telling reporters that this is not the same type of arthroscopic procedure that Buxton had last offseason. That this one carries a much shorter recovery time and should relieve the pain he was feeling in his knee this season.

“We’re hopeful that this will get him on track. It obviously wasn’t the season Byron wanted from a physical standpoint. We did all we could throughout the course of the year to try to put him in the best position to be successful. He worked really hard.”

“Our hope and our expectation and our goal is to get [Byron Buxton] ready to play center field. That’s his focus. That’s what he wants, and that’s what we all want. So that’ll be our mission through the offseason — to get him there.”

“Hopefully, this will be a step that gets us in a direction towards making sure it’s less of a problem going forward. He’ll have to manage it. We know that part. But ultimately, hopefully we can manage it a little bit better going forward.”

Derek Falvey – MLB.com

Related: Minnesota Twins Players Under Contract for 2024 and Beyond

Minnesota Twins schedule surgery for Alex Kirilloff

Byron wasn’t the only piece to the Minnesota Twins future puzzle who needs/needed surgery, after the season. So does Alex Kirilloff, whose place Buxton took on the postseason roster, when Kirilloff could no longer produce at the plate, with his torn labrum. On Friday, the Twins confirmed he has surgery scheduled for later this month too.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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