ARLINGTON, Texas — Although he didn’t travel with the Minnesota Twins on their charter flight last night, there was still hope that Byron Buxton’s sore hip would improve enough by Thursday to avoid landing on the injured list. When Buxton arrived at Target Field on Thursday and hadn’t made enough progress to convince the team he was ready, the Twins placed him on the 10-day injured list because of right hip inflammation.
Although an MRI performed Tuesday showed no structural damage to Buxton’s hip, the center fielder required a cortisone shot and will need a few days of rest, which the Twins were unable to provide while keeping him active. The Twins brought back second baseman Edouard Julien to replace Buxton; the start of the IL stay was retroactive to Tuesday.
This is Buxton’s second trip to the IL this season. He is hitting .275/.334/.528 with 23 doubles, 16 home runs and 49 RBIs in 335 at-bats.
“We didn’t decide to put him on the injured list because we just wanted to play it safe,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said Thursday at Globe Life Field before his team’s game against the Texas Rangers. “We wanted to keep him active, and that’s why he wasn’t put on the injured list (on Wednesday), and that’s why we waited, even though he wasn’t traveling with the team. We wanted to see how he was doing this morning. We wanted to get the most up-to-date information you could get and wait as long as we could before making the decision. There are moments where we probably said, ‘Hey, it’s not worth pushing it right now. Let’s just wait and see.’ This wasn’t really one of those moments. It was more about how he was doing and whether he was going to be ready to play tomorrow. And the answer was probably no. Actually, it almost certainly wasn’t, and so we just made the right decision at that point to put him on the injured list.”
The Twins were content to play shorthanded on Thursday to give Buxton another day of rest, but when they realized Buxton would not be available for Friday’s game, they decided to bench him.
Baldelli said it was not an easy decision for a team that is already without Carlos Correa and Brooks Lee. The team is currently second in the AL wild-card standings. The Twins entered Thursday’s wild-card race 1 1/2 games ahead of Kansas City and two games ahead of Boston.
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“We just understood he wasn’t going to come back in the next few days,” Baldelli said. “There are some other players that are probably going to be out at some point in the next few days as well, and we just can’t go almost a week with less to do that. He’s fine. He got a shot. It would have taken a while for that to settle down, but he came out fine. He just wouldn’t have been able to really play (Thursday) or (Friday).”
Adding Julien to the roster gives the Twins some much-needed flexibility.
Although Willi Castro will likely remain the team’s shortstop during Correa’s absence, Julien’s addition would free up Kyle Farmer, who could step in if needed. Julien’s presence also means Austin Martin can spend more time at center, along with Manny Margot.
Julien’s hitting power has increased in August. He has a batting average of .289/.396/.533 with five doubles, two home runs, eight RBIs and eight walks in 53 at-bats this month.
There is hope that Buxton can return soon. He can be activated from the injured list on August 23, when the Twins begin a three-game homestand against the St. Louis Cardinals.
“From what I know and what the medical staff thinks, I don’t think it’s going to be much longer than the minimum length of stay, but we have to get through the next few days,” Baldelli said. “We have to see what kind of improvement we expect and then we have to move on. The imaging that was done on him didn’t show anything that would indicate a long-term injury, something that should keep him out of action for a while, so that was a positive.”
This is not the first time Buxton has struggled with hip problems. He also struggled with hip problems in 2021 and 2022.
Buxton missed 14 games earlier this season due to inflammation in his right knee. He struggled after returning, but has hit his stride recently, posting a .325/.388/.675 batting average over his last 46 games.
(Photo by Byron Buxton: Adam Bettcher / Getty Images)
