After years of battling injuries, Byron Buxton is healthy, productive and an All-Star

The center fielder will play in the Midsummer Classic for the second time in his career, but this time he will arrive with nothing slowing him down.

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Byron Buxton was named to the American League All-Star team for the second time in his career on Sunday. His first selection came in 2022 when he started in center field in place of the injured Mike Trout and hit the go-ahead home run in a victory for the AL.

Buxton’s homer came in spite of the fact that he was again dealing with pain that limited him. This time it was patellar tendinitis in his right knee — an injury that caused him to pass on the opportunity to participate in the Home Run Derby.

Buxton had a slash line of .216/.293/.531 with 23 home runs and 43 RBIs in 73 games at the All-Star break and was splitting time between center field and designated hitter. But, as so often had been the case in his career, the pain became too much and Buxton played in only 19 more games before being shut down and undergoing arthroscopic surgery in September.

Even as an All-Star we were left wondering what a healthy Buxton could do. Three years later we’re finding out. Buxton was used exclusively as a designated hitter because of continued knee issues in 2023, producing a season in which one of the best center fielders in the game became a mediocre player.

Buxton wasn’t suited to exclusively DH and his greatest superpower — tracking down everything hit near him — was gone. Just after the ’23 season ended, the Twins announced that Buxton would undergo another arthroscopic procedure to excise the plica in his troublesome knee. The hope was to get Buxton back in center field. Removing a membrane flap to alleviate the continuing issues related to patellar tendinitis seemed like a Hail Mary.

Buxton, however, played in more than 100 games for only the second time in his career last season and 94 of his 102 appearances came in center field. There were two trips to the injured list — inflammation in that troublesome knee in May and right hip inflammation later in the season — but the results were far better: A slash line of .279/.335/.524 with 18 homers, 56 RBI and seven stolen bases.

That has proven to be an appetizer to this season. Buxton, 31, has delivered the type of year so many expected 13 years ago when he was the second pick in the MLB draft right behind current teammate Carlos Correa. Buxton would be mentioned in the AL MVP discussion if the Twins were having a better season. His second All-Star Game appearance will come at the Atlanta Braves’ home park on July 15 in Buxton’s home state of Georgia.

Buxton celebrated his All-Star nod on Sunday — hours before it was announced that he was the only Twin who would be going — by opening the bottom of the first with a home run into the left field seats at Target Field off an 0-1 cutter from Tampa Bay Rays starter Drew Rasmussen. It was his fifth lead off homer of the season and 14th of his career, tying Chuck Knoblauch for fourth on the Twins’ all-time list. Buxton followed with a single and stolen base in the third inning in a 7-5, 10-inning loss.

Buxton has 20 home runs on the season — the second-highest total of his career behind the 28 he hit in 2022 — and 16 stolen bases. That’s second to the 29 he stole in 2017. Buxton’s 3.1 Wins Above Replacement total entering Sunday’s game was easily the highest for any position player on the Twins.

Buxton hasn’t been able to avoid the injured list entirely this season — he missed 10 games after suffering a concussion in May following a collision with Correa — but he has played in 82 percent of his team’s games. He has hit .270/.334/.544 with 53 RBI, or three fewer than he had all of last season.

Buxton’s performance makes him a bargain.

He is in the fourth year of a contract that pays $15.1 million a season. Buxton signed the deal in 2022 knowing his value was depressed because of his injury history, but he also received a no-trade provision. There have been some wondering if the Twins should try to get Buxton to waive that clause at the deadline but that isn’t going to happen.

The Twins have waited too long to get this version of Buxton to trade him now — especially since any team would use Buxton’s injury history against the Twins in talks. A healthy Buxton, finally able to fulfill his potential and heading to his home state for an All-Star appearance that will come pain free. That has gone from pipe dream to reality.