Injury Cloud Surrounds Buxton's Breakout Season

He's a wiry guy, with long legs and a lean frame.  And he plays with abandon.

That's not a great combination in MLB.

It might be helpful to look at comps for Buxton, Willie McGee comes to wind, maybe even Willie Wilson.

If he doesn't pull a lot of muscles running and swinging and throwing, then it may come down to how often he crashes full speed into walls, and how often he leaves his hands out front on high inside fastballs.

It's luck and pluck and conditioning, avoiding injuries.   Good luck Buck.

i'd say more eric davis than wilson or mcgee. but all three had young debuts and long careers.

I think he's a major league ballplayer and that major league ballplayers get injured from time to time. He didn't miss that much time this year.

Be far more concerned about Miguel Sano.

As has been discussed for years, it's very concerning. It's a good reason to keep a guy like Granite around as your 4th OF. He can step in and play very well on defense while Buxton is resting or on the DL.

Nearly all of Buxton's injuries are trauma.  Buxton is a young, healthy man.  He will heal and be fine.  The injuries to worry about are repetitive motion or stress injuries.  Like Miguel Sano's.

Yeah, "playing the game with reckless abandon" is usually why Buxton gets hurt. This last time in New York, I'm not even sure why he jumped into the wall--did he misjudge the ball, did he expect that jumping into the wall would be the easiest way to stop, or was he just showboating a bit? The jump looked cool; I'm not convinced it was necessary. It looked like he was under the ball, anyway. If he keeps playing that way through the 162-game grind, year after year, he's going to keep hurting himself.

I've had this feeling since I first saw that clip of him crashing into a teammate in the minors, that he might be an accident waiting to happen if he didn't learn better fundamentals and awareness of situations when he's trying to make a play. I hope he learns to dial it back a bit, even if it means that he can't make so many 4-star catches. It would serve him well when his legs start to lose a step, anyway. And it really would be a shame if he's another one of those guys who didn't reach his potential because of that one fateful day when he went all-out into disaster.

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He occasionally dealt with the headaches after colliding with the outfield wall back in early May.

This, along with the fact that he had a concussion in 2014, also really concerns me.

He missed time because of a groin strain and hand issue. Neither had anything to do with his playing style. Quit worrying. Last year we wondered if he would ever stick in the bigs.....

Riverbrian and Chief got it right. Watching BB go wild in the field are some of my favorite Twin moments, and I watched Bob Allison play. Generational excellence should never be second guessed.

BB is still just 23. He'll learn in time not to kill himself.

Hell, Tori's ran through an outfield wall in his youth

Both are going to be long term injury risks. Sano is just flat out not in shape. If they put him at DH he can hide his obesity and last a long time. I doubt, however, if this is what he wants. Time will tell what he decides for his body. Right now I'm guessing beer, or whatever, wins out.

As to Buxton, his physique is freakish. He has no body fat at all and that means he is lacking a layer of protection. He needs to learn when it is appropriate to risk injury. Crashing into the wall at full speed to save a double or triple in the first inning or when trailing by five runs in the eighth aren't appropriate times to risk being out for two or three weeks. He is our best player right now by a long shot, a run or two is not a good risk v a three week injury.