11 October 2023
Byron Buxton is back.
The Twins added Buxton to the active roster ahead of Wednesday night’s win-or-go-home Game 4 of the American League Division Series as an injury replacement for Alex Kirilloff, who is dealing with a shoulder issue that sidelined him earlier in the year for more than a month.
“He still shows up ready to give it everything he can possibly give every day,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of Buxton. “And he’s put himself in a position where we can activate him, where I probably would have said that was very unlikely, if you asked me at some point in the recent past. It’s through his work. It’s through his hard work.”
Buxton went on the injured list originally with a hamstring strain in early August but suffered a setback with his knee that forced the Twins to shut down his rehab assignment in early September. He has been trying to work his way back since then.
Baldelli said Buxton has not run much but he has run enough for them to feel comfortable if they need him to do so. The manager also said they think Buxton is in a good enough spot to help the team in “smaller spurts.”
“I think everyone knows what that probably means,” Baldelli said. “Could be a big at-bat. Could be going out there to run for us in a particular spot. I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of bulk to the work that he could put in, but he’s available to us, and he’s a very dangerous player and a guy that can make things happen on the field.”
Buxton was not in the starting lineup on Wednesday for Game 4.
While the Twins have a number of players around the team that they could have added to the roster instead — like Trevor Larnach, Joey Gallo or Jordan Luplow, for example — they chose Buxton, even knowing it would be in a limited capacity.
“I think Buck gives us some kind of an alternate look and an alternate explosive option that he can go out there in certain spots and do big things,” Baldelli said. “So that’s really — that’s it. That’s really all it comes down to. It’s not that much more complex. He’s a different kind of player capable of different things.”
As for Kirilloff, the first baseman first went on the injured list with what the Twins called a right shoulder strain, on July 30. He returned on Sept. 8 and had been playing for the past month, but Baldelli said he “was never back to anything I would call 100 percent or close to it.”
“It’s just progressively been getting worse to the point where he can’t really swing at this point,” Baldelli said. “He’s battled through it.”
Asked if there was long-term concern with Kirilloff’s shoulder, Baldelli said they would get through the playoffs, get Kirilloff looked at and evaluated again and get him more tests as they determine the severity of the injury.
As for their coverage at first base with Kirilloff out, Donovan Solano was scheduled to start there on Wednesday, and Baldelli said they could also use Edouard Julien and Kyle Farmer at the position.
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