Article: Buxton's Greatest Strength Is His Greatest Weakness

[Nick Nelson]

During his brief time in a big-league uniform, Byron Buxton has shown all the things that turned him into the nation's most heralded prospect. He has tracked down tough fly balls, unleashed rocket throws, and motored around the bases like Sonic the Hedgehog – legs a blur, arms askew.

 

The intensity and speed that define Buxton's game make him an absolute joy to watch. They are also proving to be his biggest downfall.In 2014, Buxton lost significant time to three different injuries: a sprained wrist, a concussion and a dislocated finger. The mishaps struck three totally separate parts of the young outfielder's body, but they did share one thing in common: All were suffered in situations where Buxton was going all-out to make a play.

 

He sprained his left wrist while diving after a liner in center during spring training, and then re-aggravated the injury shortly after returning in May while sliding into third base.

 

In July, he was concussed – knocked unconscious momentarily, actually – in a collision with a fellow outfielder while he was sprinting at full speed for a fly ball.

 

He later dislocated his right middle finger in the Arizona Fall League while once again diving for a ball in the outfield.

 

On Tuesday night, Buxton sprained his thumb on this play, barreling into second base at high velocity on a steal:

 

Call it what you want to call it: hustle, recklessness, maybe even in some cases bad technique – it's what makes Buxton the player he is. He goes all out trying to catch balls in spring training and the AFL so you know he's going to put it all on the line in a major-league ballgame. It's hard to imagine his coaches ever asking him to take it down a notch.

 

But is Buxton's wiry body – generously listed at 190 pounds – capable of handling the inherent punishment that comes along with this style of play? So far, the evidence suggests no.

 

This latest malady is expected to sideline Buxton for at least a month, according to Paul Molitor, so the young phenom is going to lose another large chunk of a crucial development year.

 

In the scope of this season, it's a bummer of a setback. In the bigger picture, it's an extremely alarming trend.

 

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[nytwinsfan]

La la la, I can't hear you. Don't want to think about this.

[DarrenVahtra]

[jimbo92107]

It's Paul Molitor's responsibility to make Byron Buxton wear hand protection when he's running the bases. He should also make him wear a chin strap if his helmet keeps flying off. What good is the helmet going to do him in a collision at second when it's rolling onto the outfield grass between first and second base?

 

Clearly Buxton needs to learn to protect himself better from the repercussions of his own blazing foot speed. Jujitsu lessons?

[Craig Arko]

History provides the answer.

[COtwin]

Buxton should wear wrist guards at all times on the base paths. That is a no brainer.

All this talent will be wasted if they don't sit down and discuss his style of play. He will never complete a season. I think he can be almost as explosive and effective even if he tones it done and plays a bit more under control. Even that stolen base play. He was thrown out by a mile and he came in at 100 percent effort and speed. Things like timing and technique are just as important as physical tools.

[Pardon My Dinger]

Isn't this injury the reason that a lot of guys hold on to their batting gloves when they're on the basepaths?

[TheLeviathan]

My god that is one ugly slide.   Put that one on the top of the offseason list of "things to work on" along with general base running/stealing.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Maybe Buxton sensed he was going to be thrown out on that play (he was right) and then just panicked a little, trying to make a play. Was one of his wrist injuries last year on the base paths? A single injury doesn't seem like a big deal but at some point the trend is concerning

[Mike Sixel]

They said the same thing about Harper........

[troyhobbs]

It was cool they tried him out but he needs more polish for sure. I wouldn't advise him to change the way he plays the game though, just continue to work on doing things better. That was a pretty bad slide for a professional ball player....or anyone who does anything else for a living....

[diehardtwinsfan]

If you notice in his slide he breaks his fall with his hands instead of extending them out towards the bag...  That's typically what you do when you trip, not when you are diving for a bag... but yeah, that type of fall will do wonders to your wrists. 

[drjim]

 

They said the same thing about Harper........

 

Indeed they did, and took about 3 years before he got himself under control and really took off.

[by jiminy]

Enough with the head first slides! How many injuries will it take before someone tells them, no more!  Paul Molitor, I'm talking to you! It's like running with scissors -- stupid! 

 

Remember when this happened to Cuddy? Cost him half a season. Those shoes have spikes on them. It's insane.

 

It's a crazy, needless risk. You may as well tell them to go ahead and drive drunk.

 

And don't say it's just hustle. You can go all out on a feet-first slide too.

 

This is not Nick Punto we're talking about. He can slide head first. This is the future of the entire franchise! 

 

Seriously, if I were manager, I'd make it clear if you slide head first, you get benched. And fined. And spanked. Whatever it took.

[nmcowboy]

 

Enough with the head first slides! How many injuries will it take before someone tells them, no more!  Paul Molitor, I'm talking to you! It's like running with scissors -- stupid! 

 

Remember when this happened to Cuddy? Cost him half a season. Those shoes have spikes on them. It's insane.

 

It's a crazy, needless risk. You may as well tell them to go ahead and drive drunk.

 

And don't say it's just hustle. You can go all out on a feet-first slide too.

 

This is not Nick Punto we're talking about. He can slide head first. This is the future of the entire franchise! 

 

Seriously, if I were manager, I'd make it clear if you slide head first, you get benched. And fined. And spanked. Whatever it took.

Could not agree more.  Doesn't anybody teach feet-first sliding anymore?????

[theBOMisthebomb]

If this is true then it's a legitimate concern. However, let's give him time. One injury marred 2014 and an awkward slide isn't cause for panic.

[Blackjack]

 

Enough with the head first slides! How many injuries will it take before someone tells them, no more!  Paul Molitor, I'm talking to you! It's like running with scissors -- stupid! 

 

I was listening to Dan Gladden on the radio broadcast and his comment was something to the affect of 'they don't block the plate if you come in spikes first'.

 

The kid has a lot to learn, and its more than technique, he needs to learn how to play smarter.

[glunn]

 

Could not agree more.  Doesn't anybody teach feet-first sliding anymore?????

 

I wonder if there is any science as to which is better.

 

Edit: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12855927  

 

http://www.thinkbluela.com/index.php/2014/05/05/to-slide-or-to-dive-the-multi-million-dollar-question/

 

The second link seems correct to me.

 

[sane]

That bleep happens when you run 40 mph and then stop suddenly.

[sane]

'they don't block the plate if you come in spikes first'.

Tell Gladden that unlike when he played, now people have indoor toilets and blocking the plate is illegal, no matter how you slide.

[ckrolak]

It is surely the responsibility of the coaches to instruct these players how to play the game and that includes running the bases.  I place the blame squarely on Paul Molitor and whoever the baserunning coach might be.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Carlos Gomez...Bryce Harper...Byron Buxton...Andre Agassi....

 

Players who have a ton of natural talent and absolutely go for it at 100mph on every single play. Early in their career they can't harness that speed. But when they learn to control it, they become stars.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Kids, don't try this at home:

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/images/6/9/4/126039694/052215_laa_trout_steal_med_70c05br4.gif

 

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2015/05/22/126045872/watch-trout-pull-off-one-of-the-best-slides-this-year

[Wookiee of the Year]

 

Carlos Gomez...Bryce Harper...Byron Buxton...Andre Agassi....

Players who have a ton of natural talent and absolutely go for it at 100mph on every single play. Early in their career they can't harness that speed. But when they learn to control it, they become stars.

This says it for me. As long as he doesn't have any injuries that actually lower his ceiling (ala Kubel's knee injury), I just have to believe this will work itself out as Buxton matures.

[LaBombo]

Quantifying the skill of staying healthy is even earlier in its infancy than applying metrics to defense.  And it will probably lag behind most other forms of empirical sports analysis even when it's been studied more.

 

In the mean time, we'll just have to go mostly by what we see on the field.  And in that regard, one reassuring thing about Buxton is that it's extremely unlikely that his injuries are the product of his body carrying twice its natural muscle mass like Jose Canseco.

 

It appears almost equally as improbable that Buxton's injuries are arising from his playing the game with the supple grace of a donkey basketball power forward like David Justice.

 

That leaves the potential of being both blessed and cursed with an athletically gifted body composed mainly of soap bubbles, like perennially frustrating All Star talent J.D. Drew.  But so far Buxton at least subjectively does not seem to be that sort of player either.

 

Instead, it looks like the injuries are more likely just the product of bad luck and a lack of polish with his self defensive skills, as several posters have mentioned.  The head-first slide is the most obvious and easily correctible, but situational awareness near the wall and his teammates, along with some other improvements to his game, should go a long way toward keeping him healthy.

 

In any case, it's awfully early to make any judgments about BB yet, let alone one as subjective as whether he'll be able to avoid injuries.  At this point the concern seems to be much more a product of what he potentially means to the future of the franchise than being due to an alarming trend.

 

Put another way, Trevor Plouffe has quietly become a fairly valuable yet somewhat fragile ballplayer, but how much handwringing has there been about his ability to stay healthy?

[Nick Nelson]

I was nodding in agreement with the above comment until I reached the end. Plouffe made 582 plate appearances last year and is on pace for more than 600 this year. I don't think "fragile" applies.

 

He certainly can't be compared to Buxton, who has missed time with four different significant injuries since the start of the 2014 season. In fact, I don't see any comparisons that work. Bryce Harper has had his woes but has never gone through anything like Buxton's last year-and-a-half.

 

 

[glunn]

After suffering two significant injuries from sliding head first and a concussion, does it makes sense to require Buxton to slide feet first for a while?   

[jokin]

 

I was nodding in agreement with the above comment until I reached the end. Plouffe made 582 plate appearances last year and is on pace for more than 600 this year. I don't think "fragile" applies.

 

He certainly can't be compared to Buxton, who has missed time with four different significant injuries since the start of the 2014 season. In fact, I don't see any comparisons that work. Bryce Harper has had his woes but has never gone through anything like Buxton's last year-and-a-half.

 

After suffering two significant injuries from sliding head first and a concussion, does it makes sense to require Buxton to slide feet first for a while?   

 

 

Plouffe's missed time on the DL at least once, in each of his major league seasons- and missed time in the minors, as well. Based on his actual career track record, he's bound to hit the DL in 2015 at some point.

 

Buxton's series of injuries in 2014 was disconcerting, to say the least.    But Buxton seems to have made a concerted effort this season to be much less reckless in the outfield than in the past.  We need to remember that this kid not only has the pressures that accompanies being ranked as the #1 prospect, but he is also internally driven to be the best and do things the right way.   I'm guessing that he will quickly show that he's in the process of learning yet another valuable lesson in the matter of how to properly slide into bases upon his return. 

 

The injury bug only hit for the first time last season.   It's way too soon to brand the still-just-21-year old Buxton as seemingly destined to be forever labelled as "fragile" or "injury-prone".

Edited June 29, 2015 by jokin

[Blackjack]

 

 

The injury bug only hit for the first time last season.   It's way too soon to brand the still-just-21-year old Buxton as seemingly destined to be forever labelled as "fragile" or "injury-prone".

 

Only time will tell. He gets ANOTHER long stint on the disabled list to think about how he plays and what he should be doing differently.  I know when I heard he was hurt sliding head first my first thought was "dumb chit". I hope he proves me wrong.