Byron Buxton believes the best start of his career has been all about taking it easy on himself when he struggles. Whereas in the past the Twins center fielder perhaps worried too much about a bad result, he said he’s improved his ability to move on from bad results more quickly this season.
Not focusing on the negative has worked well for Buxton in 2019. Buxton’s confidence and a simplified hitting approach led to the best March/April output of his short career. Buxton picked up in May where he left off last month with a single, a stolen base and a run scored in Wednesday’s 6-2 victory over the Houston Astros. The victory — highlighted by eight shutout innings from Martín Pérez — pushed the Twins’ record to 18-10.
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“It’s a work in progress,” Buxton said. “I don’t really pay attention to too many stats. I just try to go out and try to have quality at-bats and everything else will take care of itself. If I’m worried about that, I’m not focused on my game or focused on my at-bats. I just put that in the back of the chute and go out there and play. I think that’s why in the past years I’ve hit funks. You look up there and, ‘Dang, man, I’m hitting .190 or .200,’ or whatever it is, and you just put too much pressure on yourself when you’re worrying about, ‘I’ve got to go up and get a hit so I can get to this.’ I’m past that thinking process. I eliminated that.”
Well before Buxton produced a .765 OPS in March and April, hitting coach James Rowson saw a difference in the outfielder. After working tirelessly starting in October to simplify his approach, Buxton traveled to Tampa, Fla., in January for a session with Rowson.
Immediately, Rowson picked up on Buxton’s confidence, and it hasn’t wavered at any point since. The belief has resulted in a strong start for a notoriously slow starter. Prior to 2019, Buxton had a .162/.235/.227 slash line before May 1 in 170 career plate appearances.
Entering Wednesday’s game, Buxton was hitting .250/.302/.463 in 86 plate appearances with 14 extra-base hits, including 12 doubles. He also homered for the first time ever before May 1 on Sunday. Along with his improved hitting, Buxton delivered six stolen bases and three Outs Above Average, according to Baseball Savant.
#BuxtonSpeed 🔥 pic.twitter.com/P21GL8X681
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) May 2, 2019
“You could see how relaxed he is,” Rowson said. “The confidence is gaining. I think he knows he belongs in this league now and there’s something to that when you play enough and you come up here and stop wondering whether or not you can play here, but you start knowing you can play here. I think he’s walking around with that confidence and he’s not living and dying with every at-bat. He’s able to move on and get to the next one a lot easier.
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“When he’s relaxed like that, he’s an outstanding player, as we can see.”
The telltale sign about Buxton’s simplified approach is that he no longer features a leg kick. He dropped the timing mechanism because he didn’t want to have yet another check and balance to think about with his swing.
From the outset, Buxton’s new method has resulted in a bunch of hard contact. Entering May, Buxton ranked 20th in baseball with an average exit velocity of 92.9 mph. Perhaps even more important is that a lot of his hard contact is coming on fly balls and line drives. Buxton entered Wednesday 27th in the majors with an average exit velo of 97.7 mph on balls in the air.
“Much more simple approach, quieter setup,” said one National League scout. “Using hands well and looks to be on time more. Like the way he is using all fields. Still needs to show more discipline on the breaking balls. Can get vulnerable and off balance.”
Buxton agrees with the point about the discipline.
After a very good first three weeks, Buxton has swung and missed at more pitches down and away over the past 10 days. In Wednesday’s victory, Buxton whiffed on a 2-2 slider from Houston’s Chris Devenski that was well off the plate.
The outfielder said before the game he’s working on being less aggressive on pitches away. But he isn’t fretting over it like he used to.
“Obviously, you always feel like you can do better,” Buxton said. “I know I could be a little more consistent at the plate. … I’m not necessarily over-aggressive right now, but I’m very aggressive to want to attack the baseball, which is something I’m starting to figure out (how) to dial down. My aggressiveness is kind of leading me to swing at some of those pitches away from me that I normally wasn’t swinging at early in the year. Now that the confidence is high, it’s there. Once you get that mood, that rhythm, it’s one of those things where it’s like, anything they throw close to the plate you feel like you can hit. That’s where I’ve got to make sure to stay within myself and make sure the ball comes to me instead of trying to go out there and get it.”
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The fifth-year pro does like the idea of knowing he produced well, in spite of some hostile spring conditions, and that warmer times are ahead. And he loves that the Twins are off to an outstanding start.
There are no promises that Buxton’s early-season improvement over his career norms means a breakout season is imminent. All it means is Buxton doesn’t have to dig out of the same massive, self-created hole like in 2017 when he looked up to see himself hitting .147/.256/.176 with 29 strikeouts in 78 trips to the plate at this point of the season.
As manager Rocco Baldelli pointed out, given everything Buxton dealt with in 2018, it can’t hurt that he began this current campaign on a good note.
“He dealt with adversity last year,” Baldelli said. “The less adversity that you have to deal with right off the bat the following year, maybe that’s a good thing. I can’t tell you that it’s any better for him than anybody else out there to have a nice start like he’s had. But it is a good feeling when you can start the year and not have to really worry about that. When you add it to everything else that he’s dealt with and gone through, maybe there’s some added benefit.”
Pérez dominates Astros to improve to 4-0
Each time he faced a challenge against the Astros on Wednesday, Pérez seemed to turn to his cut-fastball. He induced an inning-ending double play off the bat of Carlos Correa in the first to escape an early jam. Pérez also struck out Correa with a man on third base to end the sixth inning.
And he used it just about everywhere else.
Overall, Houston batters went 3-for-20 against Pérez’s cut-fastball on Wednesday. Hitters are 5-for-51 against Pérez this season when he uses his newfound weapon.
“I believe in myself, man,” Pérez said. “Trust. When you trust and you believe in what you’ve got, you’re going to have one of the first innings that I had, but everything was great. I’ve been feeling better every start and with my cutter and the fastball up and in. Move the ball and stay with my plan. Always attack. That’s always what I say to myself. Attack. When I’m on the attack, I’m going to do what I’m doing (Wednesday). Just go out there, enjoy it, and have fun.”
Season-high marks in innings and strikeouts for @MartinPerez33D this evening. 100 pitches, 66 strikes. He's 4-0 this season.
What a performance! 💪💪💪💪💪💪💪#MNTwins pic.twitter.com/VAw3Vx68hQ
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) May 2, 2019
Pérez improved to 4-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 3.41. Wednesday unquestionably was the highlight, but Pérez has been outstanding since he moved into the rotation in April. In four starts, Pérez has a 2.08 ERA in 26 innings pitched with 18 strikeouts and five walks.
“That was a pretty spectacular start,” Baldelli said. “The stuff was exceptional, it was there from the beginning of the game ‘til his last pitch. He commanded the ball exceptionally well. He was facing an all right-handed lineup and was able to use both sides of the plate, but was really able to pitch in to the righties. I think a lot of what he did (Wednesday) started there. I mean we were watching and we were beyond happy with what we were seeing and it didn’t waver at all. It was just a great start for him.”
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Mauer joins ESPN booth, attends first game post-retirement
He’d been to Target Field for a non-baseball event, but Joe Mauer hadn’t been back for a game since his last one on Sept. 30. The former Twins legend ended that brief hiatus on Wednesday when he joined announcers Jon Sciambi and Rick Sutcliffe in the booth for ESPN’s national broadcast of the contest.
Mauer has mostly spent time at home with his family. He’s played pickup basketball and hockey to fulfill his competitive thirst. And Mauer has watched a handful of games on Fox Sports North and likes what he’s heard from former teammate Justin Morneau.
Mauer and his wife, Maddie, attended Wednesday’s contest with friends and has plans to attend several more this season.
“It was a little weird walking in here,” Mauer said. “My wife was showing me where to go because I’m not really up here ever. It was a little different walking in, but it’s been great.
“I think my wife was getting stopped more than I was just because she’s seen these people for so many years coming up and doing the same thing. It’s fun. It’s fun to sit back and relax and watch the boys.”
Improving Astudillo runs for first time since injury
Utility man Willians Astudillo tested out his strained left hamstring before Wednesday’s game with a little bit of running. It’s the first time Astudillo had run since he suffered the injury on Saturday. He was placed on the injured list on Sunday and is eligible to be activated next Wednesday.
“I’m feeling good right now,” Astudillo said through an interpreter. “The progress is going well. I’m feeling good. I don’t see why not, next week, I’m going to be ready to come back.”
Astudillo admits he’s going a little stir crazy during this stint. He missed the entire 2013 season with a left knee injury, but said he otherwise hadn’t previously spent time on the IL.
He’s scheduled to hit and run again on Thursday and will add infield practice to the list on Friday in New York.
“You try to support your teammates any way you can, even if you’re not playing every day,” Astudillo said.
(Photo: Marilyn Indahl / USA Today)
