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It was easy for many after the season opener to rip on Byron Buxton for his three strikeouts. And if you’re on Twitter, you may have seen a group take the opportunity to do so. Offensively, Buxton could probably use some seasoning in AAA, but it’s not as if he’s struggled at AA or AAA with the bat and his defense is so good that you simply couldn’t justify sending him to Rochester to start the season while letting someone else roam the middle of Target Field’s outfield.
Despite the team-leading five strikeouts through Wednesday, Buxton is having some early-season success and getting - and taking advantage of - an opportunity to gain some valuable experience while hitting out of the 9-hole.
Through two games and seven plate appearances, Buxton has seen 41 pitches, one more than Mauer (who has two more trips to the plate) and averages 5.86 pitches per plate appearances, which leds the team by over one pitch per trip. Yes, five of those have ended with Buxton walking back to the dugout, but if you’re looking for something that could foreshadow better days coming, this might be it.
On the flip side of that, Rosario (2.88 pitches/PA), Dozier (3.56) and Sano (3.75) have combined for two hits in 21 at-bats and both of those hits have come off of the bat of Rosario, who has had at-bats where he’s looked absolutely lost.
But unless you can write off a football team’s whole season after going three-and-out in their first two possessions of the year, you probably shouldn’t worry too much about that trio or the lineup in general.
So because it’s only been only two games, we’re not going to talk about anyone TRENDING in any direction. It’s too early.
On the pitching side of the ledger, Trevor May was extremely impressive in his season debut on Monday. Pitching two innings, throwing mid-90’s gas and striking out four, May was filthy.
The rest of Monday was far from ideal, losing your starting pitcher two innings into the game due to a rain delay and running out every available reliever with the exception of the guy you can only use on the road in the event that you’re winning in the bottom of the last inning (which they weren’t).
While Casey Fien and Kevin Jepsen were inept in the Opener and Kyle Gibson didn’t pitch to expectations on Wednesday, it’s two games in… and there’s still plenty of time to trend. Good or bad.
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